UC-NRLF 


ARTHUR  J.  PILLSBURY 


LIBRARY  j 

OF  THK        ' 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Gl  FT    OF 


^     Class 


INSTITUTIONAL  LIFE 


ITS  RELATIONS  TO  THE 
STATE  AND  TO  THE 
WARDS  OF  THE  STATE 


BY 

ARTHUR  J.  PILLSBURY 

Secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Examiners  of  Californi 


Sacramento,  California, 
March   1,   1906 


Printed  at  the  State  Printing  Office 
W.  W.  SHANNON,  Superintendent 


INTRODUCTION. 


Inasmuch  as  the  accounts  of  the  State  Orphan  Fund 
of  California  are  audited  in  the  office  of  the  State 
Board  of  Examiners,  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the  secre 
tary  of  that  board  to  acquaint  himself  with  the  work 
of  the  orphanages  drawing  aid  from  the  state  fund, 
as  well  as  with  the  work  of  the  several  county  Boards  of 
Supervisors  in  the  distribution  of  state  relief  granted 
to  dependent  children.  Also,  it  is  convenient  for  the 
secretary,  whose  work  takes  him  over  much  of  the 
state,  to  visit  other  state  institutions  and  report  thereon 
to  the  Governor  in  order  that  the  executive  office  may 
be  fully  advised  as  to  the  conduct  of  such  state  insti 
tutions. 

That  the  present  secretary  of  the  State  Board  of 
Examiners  might  be  the  better  qualified  to  perform 
the  services  above  indicated,  he  was  directed  by  Gov 
ernor  George  C.  Pardee  to  visit  certain  eastern  states, 
examine  such  state  and  other  public  institutions  as 
enjoy  honorable  reputation  in  their  respective  lines 
of  work  and  make  such  inquiries  touching  their  ad 
ministration  as  he  should  be  able  to  and  make  report 
thereon  to  the  Governor  of  California. 

This  the  writer  proceeded  to  do,  without  expense 
to  the  fund  provided  by  law  for  the  support  of  the 
State  Board  of  Examiners.  He  left  Sacramento  for 

163771 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

the  East  September  7,  1905,  and  returned  to  his  office 
in  Sacramento  December  4,  of  the  same  year. 

During  his  absence  the  writer  visited  more  than 
eighty  public  institutions,  and  other  original  sources 
of  information,  reporting  from  time  to  time  to  the  ex 
ecutive  office  in  California.  These  reports,  so  far  as 
they  were  adapted  to  the  purpose,  were  sent  out  from 
the  executive  office  to  the  press  of  the  state,  in  the 
hope  that  they  might  excite  a  wholesome  public  interest 
in  public  institutions,  and  the  press  of  California  quite 
generally  published  or  commented  upon  them.  These 
reports  were  all  written  en  route,  and  were  intended 
to  be  little  more  than  impressions  received  along  the 
way  and  were  not  intended  to  be  received  as  final  con 
clusions  in  regard  to  the  subjects  treated. 

Since  their  publication  there  has  been  a  demand  for 
the  subject-matter  in  a  more  enduring  form,  and  more 
fully  digested,  and  it  is  the  purpose  of  the  following 
pages  to  supply  this  demand.  If  the  text  abounds 
more  abundantly  in  the  personal  opinions  and  con 
clusions  of  the  writer  than  in  descriptions  of  institu 
tions  visited  it  is  because  the  limits  of  space  required 
as  much  condensation  as  possible,  and  because  the 
writer  is  prone  to  ventilate  his  own  opinions  if  con 
venient  occasion  offers. 

What  has  been  written  was  written  with  the  whole 
field  of  observation  in  view  rather  than  with  such 
glimpses  of  the  field  as  he  was  able  to  obtain  while 
hurrying  over  some  thousands  of  miles  of  American 
railroads  and  of  streets  in  American  cities. 

The  writer  begs  to  acknowledge  the  most  open- 
handed  and  open-hearted  courtesy  on  the  part  of  the 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

managers  of  institutions  wherever  he  went.  If  he  was 
disappointed  in  any  one  particular  more  than  another 
it  was  in  the  discovery  that  there  is  not  any  science  of 
society  worked  out  with  enough  of  exactness  to  war 
rant  its  being  called  a  science,  or  any  "only  way"  of 
conducting  an  institution  devoted  to  public  service. 

The  elemental  factor  in  institutional  life  is  the  per 
sonality  in  the  executive  head  of  each  institution,  and 
the  way  in  which  each  such  personality  can  best  express 
himself  is  the  best  way  for  that  personality  to  perform 
his  service.  His  subordinates  will  lend  the  executive 
their  invaluable  aid  more  through  promptings  of  per 
sonal  fealty  than  because  of  a  conscious  intellectual 
conformity  with  his  policy. 

The  author  is  solely  responsible  for  conclusions 
reached  and  recommendations  offered  in  this  volume, 
and  its  publication  does  not  imply  executive  or  other 
official  indorsement  of  anything  herein  contained. 

A.  J.  PILLSBURY. 


iTY 


INSTITUTIONAL  LIFE. 

Its  Relations  to  the  State  and  to  the 
Wards  of  the  State. 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE  PROBLEM. 

There  are  in  the  United  States,  without  pretense  of 
being  able  to  give  exact  figures  in  all  instances,  one 
blind  person  to  each  1800  of  the  general  population, 
one  deaf  person  to  each  1500,  one  epileptic  to  each 
500,  one  person  so  feeble-minded  as  to  be  incapable  of 
intelligent  self-direction  to  each  300,  one  insane  person 
to  each  300,  one  delinquent  or  criminal  to  each  300  and 
one  dependent  child  to  each  100  of  children  who  have 
parents  or  guardians  who  can  and  do  support  them. 
This  is  a  part  of  the  social  load  which  our  burden- 
bearing  general  public  has  to  carry. 

The  Cost— It  costs  somewhere  in  the  vicinity  of  $300 
to  maintain  each  blind  person  at  the  public  charge  for 
one  year,  something  less  for  each  deaf  person,  not  far 
from  $200  for  each  epileptic,  and  from  $150  to  $200 
per  year  for  each  feeble-minded  person  maintained  in 
an  institution.  It  will  be  understood  that  this  cost  of 
maintenance,  in  these  instances,  includes  the  cost  of 
educating  as  well  as  of  feeding,  clothing  and  housing. 

The  cost  of  maintaining  insane  persons  in  institu 
tions  for  their  care  and  treatment  is  about  $175  per 
capita  per  year.  Dependent  childhood  costs,  in  one 
way  or  another,  at  least  $120. per  capita  per  year.  The 
cost  of  delinquency  and  criminality  for  the  United 


8  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

States  as  a  whole  has  been  lumped  off  by  good  authority 
at  a  sum  greater  by  many  millions  of  dollars  than  is 
expended  for  all  forms  of  education,  public  and  private. 

Preventive  or  Palliative— The  results  of  the  writer's 
investigations  and  observations  have  impressed  upon 
him  the  conviction  that  the  history  of  human  develop 
ment  has  been,  and  still  is,  a  history  of  getting  out  of 
trouble,  but  seldom  or  never  of  steering  clear  of  trouble. 
It  has  ever  been,  and  still  is,  the  policy  of  the  public 
to  apply  palliatives  to  sore  spots,  but  seldom  to  venture 
to  strike  at  the  roots  of  social  disease. 

Institutional  life  is  mainly  a  palliative  and  only  a 
preventive  in  a  secondary  and  modified  way.  As  this 
document  deals  in  the  main  with  institutional  life,  so 
will  it,  in  the  main,  deal  with  £>alliatives  and  only 
secondarily  and  incidentally  with  preventive  measures, 
which,  however,  are  much  better  worth  public  con 
sideration.  The  original  sources  of  social  disease  lie 
far  too  deep  to  be  reached  by  such  a  superficial  inves 
tigation  as  was  made  by  the  author  of  this  booklet. 
Those  who  would  get  at  the  roots  of  social  disorders 
must  needs  delve  deep  and  toil  long. 

No  Occasion  for  Pessimism— Although  society  has, 
heretofore,  paid  comparatively  little  attention  to  effect 
ive  preventive  measures  it  is  encouraging  to  note  that 
there  are  more  students  of  social  diseases  now  at  work 
than  ever  before  in  the  history  of  civilization,  both  in 
Europe  and  in  this  country.  It  is  not  too  much  to  hope 
that,  when  these  students  have  found  what  needs  to 
l>e  done,  publicists  will  find  means  for  doing  the  need 
ful  things.  Meantime,  palliatives  should  be  diligently 
sought  and  applied,  and  nowhere  with  a  more  dis 
criminating  intelligence  than  in  institutional  life. 

If  the  foregoing  conclusions  seem  to  anticipate  what 
should  have  been  allowed  to  develop  in  the  body  of 
the  book  the  writer's  excuse  is  that  he  happened  to 
think  of  them  just  at  this  time. 


HUMAN  LIMITATIONS. 

CHAPTER  II. 
HUMAN  LIMITATIONS. 

It  may  be  well  to  prefix  some  reasonable  bounds  to 
expectation  before  entering  upon  an  investigation  of 
institutional  life,  lest  we  meet  with  disappointment 
at  every  turn.  The  ordinary  reformer  is  idealistic 
and  so  uncompromising  in  his  exactions  that  he  has 
small  patience  with  performance  that  falls  short  of  a 
full  realization  of  his  Utopian  dream.  This  is  dis 
couraging  to  those  who  are  accomplishing  the  best 
results  possible  under  the  circumstances  in  which  they 
must  work,  and  makes  against  practical  improvement. 

Highest  Altruism  Rare— It  is  too  much  to  expect 
that  all  persons  in  charge  of  the  wards  of  the  state  will 
be  forgetful  of  self  in  the  face  of  duty.  Not  all  of  the 
members  of  President  Lincoln's  cabinet  were  wholly 
so,  even  when  confronted  by  a  foe  that  threatened 
the  national  life.  There  are  social  service  workers  who 
do  utterly  sink  themselves  in  their  work,  but  there  are 
not  any  considerable  proportion  of  them  capable  of 
entire  self-renunciation.  Most  public  institutions  must 
be  conducted,  in  the  main,  by  persons  whose  hire  will 
be  a  determining  consideration  with  them. 

A  Circumscribed  Horizon— The  nature  of  institutional 
life  tends  to  circumscribe  the  horizons  of  those  en 
trusted  with  the  management.  While  visiting  eighty- 
odd  institutions  I  found  few  persons  who  seemed  to  be 
in  doubt  as  to  the  wisdom  of  the  policy  which  they  were 
themselves  pursuing,  or  who  had  much  patience  with 
the  advocates  of  any  other  policy.  There  existed  in 
many  instances  a  sense  of  self-sufficiency  which  can 
not  have  been  otherwise  than  unfavorable  to  progress, 
yet  this  is  a  very  human  limitation  and  not  likely  to  be 
wholly  overcome  no  matter  how  many  associations  of 


10  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

institutional  workers  may   come   into   being,   and  yet 
such  associations  do  exert  a  liberalizing  tendency. 

Tendency  to  Rut — This  tendency  touches  all  things 
human  and  nothing  more  certainly  than  institutional 
life.  It  is  not  without  its  value  in  that  it  enables 
society  to  hold  fast,  very  fast,  to  that  which  is  good  as 
well  as  to  that  which  might  be  bettered  were  the  spirit 
of  enterprise  more  sharply  manifested.  This  is  only 
another  manifestation  of  the  grim  inertia  of  the  human 
race,  the  paramount  obstacle  in  the  way  of  human  de 
velopment,  and  we  must  not  be  disheartened  if  we  find 
it  also  in  institutional  life. 

Lack  of  a  Free  Hand — Many  a  superintendent  of  an 
institution  would  make  progress  along  wise  lines  were 
it  not  for  the  lack  of  a  free  hand,  but  there  are  few 
boards  of  directors  who  can  resist  the  temptation  to 
exert  sufficient  authority  to  keep  their  superintendent 
humbly  hedged  in,  and  yet  no  institution  can  be  com 
pletely  successful  whose  executive  officer  has  not 
plenary  powers  within  the  sphere  of  superintending. 
The  best  work  in  institutional  life  is  done  where  a 
single,  overmastering  personality  dominates.  If  boards 
of  directors  would  content  themselves  with  outlining 
general  policies,  leaving  executive  functions  wholly 
to  their  superintendents,  better  results  would  be  ac 
complished. 

Spirit  Strong,  Flesh  Weak— Finally,  with  the  best 
intentions  imaginable,  much  less  than  ideal  results  must 
be  put  up  with  in  institutional  life  for  the  reason  that 
it  is  not  humanly  possible  to  make  performance  com 
mensurate  with  desire.  With  the  most  unbounded  zeal 
work  along  correct  lines  is  often  disappointing,  be 
cause  physical  and  mental  endurance  is  unequal  to  the 
task  in  hand. 

If  the  reader  of  this  pamphlet  shall  find  Institutional 
Life  disappointing,  by  reason  of  a  partial  failure  to 
"make  good,"  this  chapter  will  enable  him  to  under 
stand  the  reason  why. 


WHO  ARE  THE  WARDS  OF  THE  STATE?  11 

CHAPTER  III. 
WHO  ARE  THE  WARDS  OF  THE  STATE? 

A  brief  survey  of  the  field  covered,  in  whole  or  in 
part,  by  the  institutional  life  of  our  country  will  suffice 
to  emphasize  what  society,  with  a  very  large  "S,"  is 
confronted  with. 

Disobedient  and  Untrained — These  constitute  by  far 
the  larger  number  who  are  a  burden  to  social  order,  and 
that  it  is  so  is  largely  the  fault  of  society  itself.  Chil 
dren  should  not  be  allowed  to  grow  up  untrained,  and  as 
long  as  they  are  society  will  not  be  without  its  problems 
of  criminality  and  destitution.  Every  child  is  of  con 
cern  to  the  state  from  the  very  cradle,  and  the  sooner 
it  is  looked  after  the  less  of  a  burden  is  it  likely  to 
become.  If  parents  neglect  to  train  their  children  it 
is  at  least  partially  because  society  does  not  enforce 
parental  responsibility. 

Earners  of  the  Wages  of  Sin — These  are  mainly  in 
cluded  in  the  class  mentioned  in  the  preceding  para 
graph,  but  they  none  the  less  deserve  special  mention, 
if  for  no  other  reason,  then  because  society  itself  is 
seemingly  less  conscious  of  sin,  plain,  old-fashioned  sin, 
than  in  a  former  period.  We  hear  much  of  vice  and 
crime,  but  sin  is  the  seed  of  which  vice  and  crime  are 
the  full  corn  in  the  ear.  If  the  American  people  could 
be  recalled  to  an  old-time  consciousness  of  the  "sinful- 
ness  of  sin"  their  institutional  load  would  be  much 
lightened. 

Victims  of  Injustice— This  class  mainly  includes  in 
digent  women  and  dependent  children.  Many  men 
enter  the  marriage  relation  through  promptings  wholly 
physical,  and  when  they  find  the  responsibilities  in 
curred  irksome,  and  such  men  invariably  do,  they  shirk 
those  responsibilities  without  a  grimace.  They  even 
do  it  in  the  reassuring  consciousness  that  society  will 


12  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

obligingly  bear  the  burden  they  have  thrown  off.  Their 
earning  capacity  suffices  only  to  supply  their  expansive 
wants  and  they  live  lives  of  pure  self-gratification  until 
they,  too,  become  charges  upon  public  bounty  and  are 
buried  at  public  expense.  There  is  nothing  that,  at 
the  present  time,  comes  nearer  to  being  a  "crying" 
evil  than  this,  and  yet  society  has  scarcely  begun  to 
look  for  a  remedy  for  it. 

The  Superannuated — The  cheapening  of  the  earning 
capacity  of  capital  in  the  markets  of  the  world  has  not 
been  an  unmixed  blessing.  It  requires  that  a  much 
larger  accumulation  than  formerly  of  surplus  earnings 
be  made  during  the  hey-dey  of  life  for  the  support  of 
old  age,  and  few  there  be  whose  accumulations  of  a 
lifetime  are  sufficient  to  that  end.  When  no  longer  able 
to  pull  their  own  weight  the  superannuated  must  be 
sustained  by  their  relatives  or  by  some  form  of  public 
charity.  This  has  tended  to  fill  hospitals  for  the  insane 
with  persons  who  are  not  insane,  but  who  have  grown 
old,  not  sweetly,  but  too  soon,  and  wrho  are  committed 
to  such  institutions  for  the  reason  that  society  has 
made  no  other  provision  for  them.  A  hundred  senile 
cases  recently  investigated  in  Massachusetts  showed 
that  all  of  them  were  better  off  in  the  hospitals  for  the 
insane  than  anywhere  else  they  could  be  put,  and  yet 
they  had  no  real  right  to  be  there,  being  only  broken 
in  mind  as  in  body,  but  not  in  any  proper  sense  insane. 

Physical  and  Moral  Cripples— Under  a  proper  social 
order  these  would  be  the  only  ones  with  whom  organ 
ized  society  would  have  to  concern  itself,  and,  relatively 
to  the  whole  dependent  mass,  their  number  is  infini 
tesimal.  The  Avord  "degeneracy"  is  susceptible  of 
infinite  abuse.  Degeneracy  has  been  defined  as  being 
a  "degradation  of  development  below  the  average 
normal  type."  There  isn't  anything  very  serious  in 
that  unless  development  be  so  far  below  the  average 
as  to  bo  impossible  of  reasonable  rectification  by  care- 


WHAT    .MAKKS  C()()D  BOYS  BAD.  13 

ful  training.  The  degenerate  foreordained  to  be  a 
burden  upon  social  life  conies  much  nearer  being  the 
thousandth  than  the  hundredth  man.  Most  human 
ills  are  therefore  remediable.  The  common  herd  is  not 
a  bad  herd  to  breed  from  if  the  offspring  be  given 
proper  nurture  from  the  start,  and  it  is  sound  policy 
for  society  to  see  to  it  that  it  gets  it. 

The  Others— Aside  from  the  classes  mentioned  above 
as  wards  of  the  state  we  have  with  us  the  blind,  the  deaf, 
the  insane,  the  feeble-minded  and  those  camp  followers 
in  the  campaign  of  life  known  as  hoboes.  The  fore 
going  topics  will  make  sufficient  drafts  upon  the  time 
and  patience  of  the  average  reader. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
WHAT  MAKES  GOOD  BOYS  BAD. 

We  are  all  of  us  animals.  Adam  was  an  animal,  and 
every  boy  born  since  then  has  had  a  good  deal  of  Adam 
in  him.  Animalism  is  the  groundwork  of  the  race. 
Morality  consists  in  warring  against  and  rising  superior 
to  primitive  instincts  which  we  have  in  common  with 
the  animal  world.  Social  order  has  prohibited  first 
one  and  then  another  form  of  conduct  common  to  all 
animals,  has  done  it  for  the  common  good,  and  in  spite 
of  propensity.  Therefore,  the  boy  that  is  left  to  grow 
up  as  animals  grow,  untrained,  develops  an  almost 
purely  physical  existence,  and  every  such  boy  becomes 
a  bad  boy. 

Disobedience— Not  one  boy  in  a  hundred  has  the 
evolutionary  impulse  within  him  strong  enough  to 
raise  him  above  the  life  of  the  physical  being  except 
his  steps  be  guided  by  parental  or  other  authority. 
This  requires  obedience,  and  where  obedience  is  not 
required  at  home  authority  will  be  resisted  at  school 
and  the  boy  will  become  a  truant  or  be  expelled  from 


14  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

school  as  unfit  to  associate  with  other  children.  The 
disobedient  pupil  is  likely  to  become  a  disobedient 
citizen,  to  wit :  a  law-breaker. 

Paternal  Example — There  is  many  a  boy  in  a  reform 
school  for  no  other  reason  than  that  he  was  doing  just 
what  his  father  did,  was  unsteadily  employed,  spent 
his  evenings  loafing  around  the  streets  and  saloons  and 
was  to  be  found  at  his  home  only  at  mealtime.  There 
comes  a  time  in  the  life  of  most  boys  when  they  get 
beyond  the  control  of  their  mothers.  If  paternal 
responsibility  is  not  then  affirmed  the  boy  is  likely  to 
be  lost. 

A  Wrong  Start— Boys  are  made  bad  by  giving  them 
a  wrong  start  in  life.  It  is  the  old  story  of  the  twig 
wrongly  bent  that  resulted  in  a  tree  inclined,  and  this 
may  come  about  through  a  variety  of  ways,  but  mainly 
by  leaving  the  boy  to  his  own  devices.  Left  to  himself 
a  boy  grows  up  as  a  young  colt  would  grow,  if  not 
vicious  at  least  ungovernable  without  some  drastic 
form  of  breaking-in,  which  task  is  generally  turned 
over  to  the  police  or  to  the  reform  school.  A  boy  who 
is  started  right  may  go  wrong  after  all,  but  he  will 
seldom  get  entirely  away  from  'right  standards  of 
living.  It  will  be  easier  for  him  to  learn  to  behave  than 
if  he  had  never  behaved. 

Untrained  Hands — There  is  nothing  more  intensely 
alive  than  the  normal  boy.  There  is  something  doing 
every  waking  minute  of  his  life.  Nature  is  doing  the 
best  it  can  to  educate  him,  but,  as  with  all  humanity, 
along  animal  rather  than  moral  lines.  If  his  hands 
are  not  given  some  good  thing  to  do  they  will  do  some 
evil  thing,  for  do  things  they  must.  It  is  a  law  of 
his  being. 

No  Money  of  His  Own — A  boy  has  wants  innumer 
able.  Not  all  of  those  wants  are  legitimate,  but  some 
of  them  are.  Many  boys  have  as  little  that  they  can 


WHAT  MAKES  GOOD  BOYS  BAD.  15 

call  their  own,  that  they  do  not  steal,  as  the  slaves  of 
the  South  had  on  the  plantations  in  ante-bellum  days. 
Is  there  any  wonder  that  the  slaves  stole  from  their 
masters?  And  is  there  any  wonder  that  boys  without 
other  source  of  income  learn  to  pick  up  every  thing  of 
value  that  they  lay  their  hands  on?  Of  all  evil  habits 
that  of  petty  larceny  is  about  the  hardest  to  break  up, 
whether  formed  by  a  boy  or  a  girl.  The  thing  has  been 
done  so  many  times  that  it  just  does  itself.  It  isn't 
second  nature.  It  is  first  nature,  for  that  is  the  way  the 
animal  gets  all  that  it  has.  If  morality  does  not  inhibit 
the  practice  it  will  be  followed  as  naturally  as  eating 
and  drinking.  Every  child  must  be  trained  to  be  honest, 
or  it  will  be  a  thief  without  guilt  if  not  without  guile. 
The  untaught  child  is  under  the  dispensation  of  the 
law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  and  the  fittest  is  the 
one  most  successful  in  supplying  its  own  physical 
wants. 

Adolescence — The  voice-changing  period  is  the  most 
critical  in  the  life  of  every  boy.  At  this  period  he  is 
not  wholly  accountable,  and  he  lives  in  the  present  as 
truly  as  the  bird.  The  criminal  degenerate  affirms  that 
"I  do  the  deed  first  and  then  afterward  I  consider  it." 
It  is  so  with  almost  every  boy  during  the  voice-changing 
period.  He  does  not  come  into  possession  of  his  right 
mind  until  that  crucial  period  is  over.  At  that  period 
he  demands  action,  action,  action.  When  reflection 
starts  out  to  find  him  it  mny  have  to  search  behind 
prison  bars,  the  more  especially  if  he  has  not  some  good 
guardian  angel  in  human  form  to  hold  him  in  leash 
and  direct  his  activities  into  right  channels. 

The  Black  Sheep  Problem— But  there  are  boys  who 
go  off  wrong  even  from  the  best  regulated  families 
and  in  spite  of  the  most  solicitous  and  even  prayerful 
care.  The  problem  of  the  black  sheep  in  the  family 
is  a  very  real  problem.  There  are  such  sheep,  but  it 
does  not  follow  that  because  they  are  black  they  are 
innately  bad.  The  trouble  is  that  the  ordinary  family 


1(3  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

does  not  afford  the  sort  of  nurture  this  special  creation 
requires.  Institutional  life  sometimes  fits  such  needs 
better  than  family  life.  By  trying  to  adapt  them  to 
the  same  influences  that  suffice  for  their  brothers  and 
sisters  a  failure  is  scored  and  a  bad  boy  is  produced. 
Out  of  the  innumerable  strains  of  beings  that  have 
contributed  to  the  family  heredity  there  came  into 
this  one's  veins  something  alien  to  the  rest  of  his  kin, 
and  the  fact  was  not  recognized.  Hence  the  problem 
of  the  black  sheep  in  that  flock  of  otherwise  untarnished 
white. 

The  Human  Animal— The  fact  should  never  be  lost 
sight  of  that  every  human  being,  of  the  male  sex,  is 
prenatally  disposed,  from  the  dawn  of  puberty  to  self- 
realization,  to  become  an  anti-social  being  and  almost 
morbidly  individualistic.  This  tendency  should  have 
been  forestalled  between  the  cradle  and  the  dawn  of 
puberty.  If  it  was  not  the  result  is  a  bad  boy.  Such 
a  boy  has  become  bad  through  misfortune  rather  than 
through  fault,  and  the  responsibility  rests  primarily 
upon  shoulders  other  than  his  own. 


CHAPTER  V. 
WHAT  MAKES  BAD  BOYS  GOOD. 

Those  who  have  read  the  preceding  chapter  at  all 
thoughtfully  had  suggested  to  their  own  minds  as  they 
went  along  the  proper  remedies  to  be  applied  to  most 
of  the  ailments  therein  suggested.  It  will  therefore  be 
unnecessary  to  recapitulate,  but  only  to  add  some  con 
clusions  I  have  reached  in  the  light  of  what  I  have  seen 
and  heard. 

Transplanting— Many  shrubs  spring  up  in  the  forest 
which  fail  of  coming  to  a  useful  maturity  for  want  of 
opportunity.  They  are  shaded,  starved  and  dried  out 
until  they  live  merely  to  exist,  but  not  to  grow  to 
fruitful  use.  More  than  half  of  the  so-called  bad  boys 


WHAT  MAKES  BAD  BOYS  GOOD.  17 

are  in  need  of  transplanting.  They  have  been  over- 
shadowed  by  bad  example,  starved  for  want  of  loving 
nurture,  have  stuck  their  roots  into  scanty  domestic 
soil,  and  their  innate  demand  for  physical  action,  not 
having  been  rightly  directed,  has  developed  them  into 
public  nuisances.  The  best  place  to  put  such  a  boy  is 
in  a  good  home  where  he  will  be  kindly,  but  firmly, 
handled,  as  a  promising  colt  assuredly  would  be  because 
possessed  of  a  property  value.  So  is  the  boy  possessed 
of  a  property  value.  Every  robust,  productive,  well- 
ordered  and  skilled  mechanic  is  worth  $2000  a  year 
to  the  state.  Every  capable  criminal  will  cost  the  state 
$2000  a  year  while  at  large.  It  is  worth  while  to  trans 
plant  youthful  shoots  that  need  it.  Next  to  a  good 
home,  a  good  military  or  training  school  is  best  for 
training  an  overly  individualistic  youth.  This  school 
ing  should  be  obtained  through  an  enforcement  of 
parental  responsibility,  wherein  we  are  now  weak  and 
vascillating.  If  there  be  no  other  recourse,  then  send 
the  lad  to  a  public  reform  school.  He  may  not  there 
find  the  best  sort  of  chance  to  grow  normally,  but  he 
will  be  given  a  chance,  and  probably  the  first  chance 
he  has  ever  had.  Most  of  the  so-called  reformations  of 
character  effected  by  reform  schools  belong  to  this 
class.  They  have  given  these  boys  a  chance,  and  they 
have  made  use  of  it.  That  is  the  whole  story. 

Self -Realization— "First  the  blade  and  then  the  ear 
and  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear."  That  is  the  normal 
process  of  human  development;  and  the  full  corn  is 
self-realization,  and  the  crown  of  that  glory  is  common 
sense.  There  are  belated  beings  who  do  not  achieve 
common  sense  until  comparatively  late  in  life,  and  some 
never  achieve  it  and  are  impracticable  fools  and  ne'er- 
do-wells  all  their  lives.  The  normal  and  well-trained 
child  will  come  into  his  inheritance  of  common  sense, 
usually,  between  eighteen  and  twenty-one  years  of  age. 
Those  who  have  not  had  proper  youthful  training  may 
be  sent  into  retirement  in  an  institution  and  be  there 


18  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

held  on  to,  and  kept  from  harming  themselves  and  the 
public,  until  self-realization  develops.  Next  to  trans 
planting,  this  opportunity  to  await  self-realization  and 
common  sense  in  seclusion  has  scored  more  so-called 
reformations  of  bad  boys  than  anything  else. 

/  Probation— But  the  best  time  to  make  a  bad  boy 
j  good  is  before  he  becomes  bad.  Pardon  the  Hibernian- 
ism  !  Most  so-called  bad  boys  are  not  really  bad.  They 
are  only  becoming  so.  This  development  of  badness 
is  the  nuisance  period  of  their  lives.  They  plague  the 
police  and  the  neighbors,  and  are  hustled  off  to  a 
reform  school  to  be  gotten  rid  of.  This  is  a  wrong  to 
the  boy,  and  often  he  can  be  set  about-face  at  this  time 
with  a  little  effort.  He  has  had  his  own  injurious  way 
and  needs  to  feel  the  grip  of  the  law  on  his  shoulder. 
The  juvenile  court  and  probation  officer  may,  if  they 
exercise  the  faculty  of  common  sense,  perform  a  vast 
service  at  this  stage  of  adverse  development,  but  they 
must  not,  through  weakness,  make  a  travesty  of  proba 
tion.  I  have  found  boys  in  reform  schools  who  had 
been  on  probation  as  many  as  eleven  times  before 
being  committed  to  a  reform  school.  It  is  right  to 
give  an  unruly  boy  a  chance,  and  another  chance,  and 
possibly  still  another,  but  there  must  be  some  not  too 
distant  barrier  over  which  he  can  not  leap  without 
being  summarily  brought  to  book.  The  boy  will  know 
how  far  he  can  go  without  being  told,  and  is  likely  to 
go  the  limit. 

Parental  Responsibility— In  every  case  parental  re 
sponsibility  should  be  exhausted  before  the  hand  of  the 
\  law  is  laid  upon  the  delinquent  boy.  There  are  those 
who  seem  to  feel  (think  they  do  not)  that  they  are  at 
liberty  to  reproduce  their  unprofitable  kind  unlimitedly 
and  turn  the  litter  loose  to  hustle  for  itself.  Such 
persons  need  to  be  forced  to  discharge  the  duty  of 
parentage,  the  highest  duty  of  citizenship,  or  take 
consequences  as  serious  to  themselves  as  disciplinary 
regulations  can  inflict.  The  American  public  is  cul- 


WHAT  MAKES  GOOD  GIRLS  BAD.  19 

pably  lax  in  enforcing  parental  responsibility.  Juvenile 
courts  are  doing  much  to  remedy  this  defect,  and  their 
efforts  are  worthy  of  cordial  and  determined  support. 

Real  Reformation  Rare — When  I  started  out  on  my 
recent  pilgrimage  I  had  entertained  the  hope  that  I 
should  somewhere  find  an  institution  of  some  sort  that 
could  successfully  undertake  the  reformation  of  a  de 
formed  human  character.  I  might  as  well  have  sought 
the.  Holy  Grail.  The  institutions  I  saw  were  devoted 
to  the  formation,  not  the  re-formation  of  character. 
Deformed  characters  are  sometimes  reformed,  but  not 
by  institutions  constructed  by  human  hands  or  by  laws 
fashioned  by  human  minds.  If  the  soul  of  the  way 
ward  be  touched  by  the  grace  of  God  with  power,  as  in 
the  case  of  Paul  on  the  way  to  Damascus,  the  crooked 
character  may  be  made  straight.  Institutional  life  has 
not  many  re-formations  of  that  character  to  take  credit 
for.  It  may  bear  witness  as  to  some,  but  not  of  its  own 
doing. 

The  chapter  on  manual  training  will  throw  some 
additional  light  upon  the  subject  of  this  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
WHAT  MAKES  GOOD  GIRLS  BAD. 

Nature  has  ordained  that  the  girl,  much  more  than 
the  boy,  is  likely  to  be  sinned  against.  This  fact  has 
inspired  all  civilized  societies  to  safeguard  girls  much 
more  carefully  than  boys.  Where  girls  go  to  the  bad 
it  is  mainly  because  the  social  order  in  which  they  were 
reared  was  not  civilized.  It  may  have  had  the  outward 
semblance  of  civilization,  but  inwardly  it  was  primitive 
if  not  savage. 

Broken  Homes— Firstly,  secondly  and  thirdly,  what 
makes  good  girls  bad  is  broken  homes,  broken  homes, 
broken  homes !  The  home  may  have  been  broken  by 
death  or  by  divorce,  or  yet  by  separation  without 


20  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

divorce,  but  whatever  breaks  up  the  home  establishes 
favoring  conditions  for  good  girls  becoming  bad  girls. 
The  roster  of  every  girls'  reform  school  in  America  will 
bear  testimony  to  this  fact. 

The  Silly  Age— Almost  every  girl  has  a  silly  age 
corresponding  to  the  "bull  calf"  age  of  the  boy.  This 
is  her  vulnerable  period.  At  that  time,  unless  re 
strained,  she  is  given  to  gadding,  and  the  gadding  girl 
forms  few  good  associations  and  many  bad  ones.  If 
there  are  scandals  connected  with  the  public  or  other 
schools  which  the  girl  attends  it  is  at  this  time.  The 
girl  is  impressionable  to  a  degree,  has  little  common 
sense,  is  averse  to  sustained  employment  of  any  kind 
and  wants  money  to  spend. 

Stubbornness — When  an  attempt  is  made  to  restrain 
a  girl  at  this  period  of  life  she  is  not  unlikely  to  be 
come  stubborn  and  rebellious.  Her  mother  can  handle 
her  to  little  better  advantage  than  she  can  handle  her 
half-grown  son,  and,  if  she  be  a  weak  woman,  she  gives 
up  trying.  In  Connecticut  stubbornness  is  a  misde 
meanor  and  gives  the  state  the  right  to  interfere  for 
the  protection  of  the  wrong-headed  girl  from  herself. 
Such  interference  is  generally  timely  and  productive 
of  good  results. 

Accessory  to  the  Fact— At  this  period  in  a  girl's  life 
she  wants  to  make  herself  attractive.  She  would  not 
be  a  daughter  of  Eve  if  she  did  not.  Like  the  boy, 
she  wants  to  quit  school  arid  go  to  work,  often  in  some 
department  store  in  a  great  city  where  she  can  dress 
well  and  see,  and  be  seen,  by  many  people.  The  man 
ager  of  the  great  department  store  is  exacting  with 
regard  to  her  personal  appearance,  but  in  most  in 
stances  is  parsimonious  in  the  measure  of  compensation 
for  services  rendered.  He  knows  that  the  girl  can  not 
keep  up  appearances  on  her  weekly  stipend,  and  he  may 
be  well  assured  that  if  she  can  not,  and  her  own  rela 
tives  do  not  come  to  her  rescue,  she  will  be  tempted  to 


WHAT   MAKES  GOOD  GIRLS  BAD.  21 

barter  her  honor  for  the  finery  she  craves.  He  has 
therefore  made  himself  accessory  before  the  fact  to 
her  seduction,  and  an  accomplice  before  the  fact  stands 
in  the  same  situation,  as  to  moral  turpitude,  as  the 
principal  offender.  Commercial  greed  has  done  nothing 
more  damning  than  this.  Nearly  every  girl  sent  to  a 
reform  school  or  erring  women's  home  is  there  mainly 
because  of  unchastity,  and  no  inconsiderable  part  of 
the  unchastity  of  fallen  womanhood  is  traceable  to  this 
cause.  It  is  time  public  sentiment  took  up  arms  against 
this  cause  for  the  downfall  of  immature  womanhood. 

The  Roadhouse— All  over  the  country  roadhouses  and 
wayside  inns  are  to  be  found  where  liquors  are  sold  to 
those  who  find  occasion  to  patronize  them  while  out 
riding  in  automobiles,  carriages  or  on  bicycles.  The 
sex  organism  of  the  female  is  much  more  readily  in 
fluenced  by  alcoholic  stimulation  than  that  of  the  male. 
Many,  perhaps  most,  fallen  women  affirm,  very  likely 
in  good  faith,  that  their  downfall  was  accomplished 
through  their  being  drugged.  In  many  cases  they 
were  probably  not  drugged.  They  were  merely  plied 
with  wine  at  some  roadhouse  or  side-entrance  saloon 
after  the  vaudeville.  That  was  sufficient.  Society 
has  some  responsibilities  here,  too,  if  it  is  to  make 
pretense  to  civilization. 

The  Maternal  Instinct— After  all,  the  thing  which, 
more  than  all  else,  leads  the  steps  of  adolescent  girlhood 
away  from  the  path  of  rectitude  and  furnishes  the 
impulse  for  the  self-indulgent  life  is  the  maternal 
instinct,  if  not  newly  born,  at  least  powerfully  empha 
sized  by  the  processes  attending  a  budding  womanhood. 
As  a  rule  the  inmates  of  rescue  homes  have  a  passion 
ate  love  for  babies,  their  own  and  everybody's.  Until 
self-realization  and  the  dawn  of  commonsense  judg 
ment  come  to  her  rescue  society  can  not  too  safely 
guard  the  possessor  of  this  instinct  against  such  an 
abuse  of  it  as  a  possible  over-emphasis  may  inflict. 


22  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

The  Natural-Born  Prostitute— There  are  those  who 
wash  their  hands  of  responsibility  for  the  social  evil, 
which  haunts  with  sleuth-like  tread  the  path  of  every 
girl  whose  steps  are  inclined  to  wander,  by  declaring 
that  most  bad  girls  are  innately  bad  and  it  Avas  that 
they  might  be  of  the  demi-monde  that  they  were  born 
into  the  world.  This  is  not  and  never  was  true  of  any 
considerable  number  of  women.  The  girls  who  go 
wrong  are  much  like  other  girls,  only  more  giddy  and 
silly  because  less  carefully  trained.  Born  harlots  there 
are,  but  they  are  as  rare  as  born  geniuses.  Probably 
not  one  prostitute  in  a  hundred,  and  not  one  wayward 
girl  in  ten  thousand,  is  of  that  character.  There  are 
very  few  of  them  in  the  reform  schools  for  girls;  but 
a  serious  degree  of  depravity  may  be  acquired  when 
not  inherited.  It  is  for  the  prevention  of  this  tendency 
that  society  needs  to  put  forth  its  most  determined 
effort. 

CHAPTER  VII. 
HOW  BAD  GIRLS  ARE  MADE  GOOD. 

No  small  part  of  the  method  of  reformation  sug 
gested  for  bad  boys  is  equally  applicable  to  the  refor 
mation  of  bad  girls,  and  yet  the  problem  is  constitu 
tionally  different.  The  wayward  boy  has  no  Nemesis 
camping  on  his  trail.  Every  wayward  girl  has.  This 
makes  her  problem  more  difficult. 

The  Love  of  a  Good  Woman—  Of  all  remedial  meas 
ures  less  than  divine,  to  be  sought  for  the  redemption 
of  a  wayward  girl,  the  unselfish  love  of  a  good  woman 
ranks  first.  Such  a  woman  must  not  only  be  good,  and 
capable  of  a  boundless  love  for  her  weakling  sisters, 
but  she  must  be  strong,  a  sort  of  haven  of  refuge  to 
Avhom  the  stricken  may  fly  for  sympathy,  counsel  and 
protection.  There  are  such  women,  and  when  a  reform 
school  gets  such  an  one  at  its  head  it  achieves  success. 
When  it  does  not  it  fails  substantially  if  not  utterly. 


HOW  BAD  GIRLS  ARE  MADE  GOOD.  23 

Holding  in  Leash — As  with  boys,  so  with  girls,  they 
are  sometimes  redeemed  to  right  living  by  being  held 
under  an  unsleeping  surveillance  until  they  come  to 
themselves,  which  they  are  likely  to  do,  if  at  all,  by  the 
time  they  are  twenty-one.  If  to  a  wayward  tendency 
they  have  added  the  drinking  habit,  and  morphine,  if 
they  have  come  to  crave  the  sensational  life  of  the 
redlight  district  they  may,  even  after  self-realization, 
return  to  the  old  life  by  deliberate  preference.  If  so, 
so  be  it.  They  will  take  places  that  would  otherwise 
be  filled  by  better  material,  will  not  be  likely  to  re 
produce  their  kind  more  than  once  before  sterility 
possesses  them,  and  their  end  will  be  no  great  way  off. 
Society  owes  girls  the  duty  of  holding  them  in  leash 
until  they  have  reached  a  capacity  for  making  an  in 
telligent,  if  not  always  a  wise  choice,  after  which  the 
issue  must  rest  with  them.  About  half  of  those  taken 
out  of  prostitution  will  return  to  it  of  their  own  free 
wills,  but  not  so  much  for  the  gratification  of  the  sex 
emotion  as  for  the  wild  life  that  goes  with  it. 

Unceasing  Occupation — Intelligent  and  effective  labor 
is,  next  to  Love,  the  best  reformatory  agent  for  way 
ward  girls.  They  are  all  untrained.  It  is  the  rarest 
thing  imaginable  to  find  a  girl  committed  to  a  reforma 
tory  who  comes  there  with  a  good  knowledge  of  cook 
ing,  sewing  and  general  housekeeping.  Usually  such 
girls  can  not  even  sweep  or  dust,  wash  dishes  or  scrub 
kitchen  floors.  When  they  have  learned  to  perform 
sustained  labor  of  any  kind  for  half  a  day  at  a  time 
they  are  on  the  high-road  toward  reformation.  The 
sewing  classes,  cooking  schools,  classes  in  dress-mak 
ing  and  millinery  appeal  to  them,  as  a  rule  very  readily. 

Accomplishments — The  normal  girl  takes  to  accom 
plishments  as  a  duck  to  water.  These  may  be  superfi 
cial,  but  if  they  are  showy  they  will  serve,  often  a  very 
useful  purpose.  Music,  instrumental  and  vocal,  fancy 
work,  elocutionary  recitations  and  theatricals,  drills, 
physical  training — all  tend  to  broaden  the  sphere  of 


24  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

girlish  interest  and  to  save  from  the  purely  physical 
and  emotional  lives  they  have  been  leading.  Education 
comes  hard  to  them,  for  the  reason  that  they  have  had 
little  of  it.  Most  girls  sent  to  reform  schools  are  not 
beyond  the  third  or  fourth  grades  in  the  public  schools 
and  many  have  had  no  education  at  all.  Give  the  girls 
a  chance.  Often  it  is  all  they  need,  or  ever  have  needed, 
in  order  to  become  good  girls  and  good  women,  and 
many  a  girl  goes  out  of  a  reform  school  and  into 
domestic  service  so  much  more  accomplished  than  her 
rural  sisters  that  she  is  soon  married  to  some  reputable 
young  farmer  and  lives  happil}r  and  worthily  ever  after. 

Matrimony  and  Motherhood— It  was  at  first  with 
some  misgivings  that  I  found  a  well-organized  matri 
monial  bureau  connected  with  a  reform  school  for  girls, 
but  I  have  become  reconciled  to  it.  I  was  fearful  as  to 
what  the  harvest  might  be  because  I  had  been  haunted 
with  the  conviction  that  most  reform  school  girls  were 
essentially  abnormal  and  not  good  stock  to  derive 
American  citizens  from.  There  is  some  danger  from  this 
cause,  but  no  more  than  from  the  customary  marrying 
and  giving  in  marriage  in  society  at  large.  The  percent 
age  of  congenital  abnormality  is  not  essentially  higher 
in  institutional  life  than  out  of  it.  There  is  plenty  of  it 
everywhere.  But  the  wayward  girl,  held  in  leash  until 
trained  for  the  performance  of  life's  ordinary  duties, 
and  then  married  to  a  reputable  man,  is  as  well  dis 
posed  of  as  she  can  be.  And  when  a  pledge  of  love, 
in  the  shape  of  a  first  baby,  nestles  next  to  her  matronly 
heart  her  cup  of  joy  invariably  overflows  to  the  good 
woman  whose  .all-encompassing  love  first  set  her  upon 
her  feet  and  made  her  to  stand  upon  them  until  she 
could  stand  alone.  She  is  then  a  saved  woman  if  any 
thing  less  than  divine  grace  can  ever  save  a  woman 
who  gets  started  in  the  wrong  direction. 

In  speaking  of  the  normality  of  reform  school  girls 
I  have  made  a  mental  reservation  touching  those  who 
are  feeble-minded  or  insane,  for  these  have  no  business 


IX    T1JE  LIGHT   OF   FIFTY    YFARS.  ^0 

•  •  ' 

in  a  reform  school,  and  are  given  consideration  in  a 
separate  chapter.  Every  reform  school  should  have 
at  command  the  services  of  an  expert  alienist  to  aid  in 
weeding  out  this  class.  Nothing  worth  while  can  be 
done  for  them  in  such  an  institution. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 
IN  THE  LIGHT  OF  FIFTY  YEARS. 

The  Reform  School  at  Rochester,  New  York,  is  one 
of  the  oldest,  and  has  been  recognized  as  one  of  the 
best,  in  the  country.  It  has  had  fifty  years  of  experi 
ence  with  the  problem  of  juvenile  reformation  and  has 
made  a  record  well  worth  studying. 

Began  with  Bolts  and  Bars— In  the  beginning  it  was 
a  prison.  The  truant  and  delinquent  lads  sent  to  it  to 
be  reformed  were  thrown  into  prison  cells  and  forced 
to  thrust  their  little  hands  out  through  prison  bars  at 
night  in  order  that  they  might  be  counted  to  see  that 
none  had  run  away  from  this  delightful  retreat.  It 
kept  the  boys  where  the  dogs  could  not  bite  them,  but 
returned  comparatively  few  of  .them  to  society  pre 
pared  for  a  reputable  citizenship. 

Manual  Training  Era— The  best  work  this  institution 
lias  over  done  in  the  way  of  reforming  bad  boys  and 
girls  was  during  the  hey-dey  of  the  manual  training 
era.  For  some  years  the  institution  enjoyed  the  services 
of  a  very  capable  and  enthusiastic  believer  in  manual 
training,  and  the  boys,  and  girls,  too,  took  hold  of  the 
work  with  great  zeal,  but  this  teacher  overworked  to  the 
point  of  nervous  prostration,  and  afterward  manual 
training  became  by  degrees  more  and  more  subordi 
nated  to  the  industrial  work  of  supplying  the  wants 
of  the  school.  It  is  still  employed,  but  not  with  the 
old-time  enthusiasm  and  with  results  less  beneficial, 
though  still  important. 


26  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

• 

Military  Discipline— In  1886  military  discipline  was 
inaugurated  by  an  excellent  disciplinarian,  and  this 
feature  at  once  became  the  dominant  spirit  of  the 
school.  It  was  carried  so  far  as  to  equip  the  boys  with 
rifles  and  sharp  bayonets,  but  from  that  day  to  this 
no  serious  casualty  has  occurred  because  of  these 
youngsters  being  thus  armed  with  weapons  that  would 
enable  them,  if  they  were  to  conspire  to  that  end,  to 
murder  every  officer  in  the  institution.  Military  disci 
pline  has  been  an  aid  in  teaching  obedience  and  in 
giving  the  lads  carriage  and  address,  but  it  turns  out 
an  institutional  product.  Every  school  should  have 
something  of  military  training,  but  the  experience  at 
Rochester  has  demonstrated  that  it  is  not  w^ell  to  have 
the  military  idea  overshadow  all  others.  It  is  a  good 
assistant,  but  a  bad  master. 

Corporal  Punishment  Abolished— A  few  years  later 
the  military  regime  was  so  far  modified  as  to  permit 
the  inauguration  of  a  system  of  discipline  based  on 
fatigue  duty  instead  of  corporal  punishment,  which 
has  now  been  abolished  in  New  York  by  law.  The 
disciplinarian  was  a  very  capable  woman,  and  her 
disciplinary  system  was  intelligent,  humane  and  firm. 
Great  things  were  expected  of  it  and  much  good  was 
accomplished  by  it,  but  the  fatigue  tasks  gradually 
grew  longer  and  more  severe,  the  solitary  confinements 
more  numerous  and  prolonged,  until  they  became  no 
less  severe  than  corporal  punishment,  reasonably  in 
flicted.  Besides,  the  military  teachers  were  constantly 
protesting  against  a  divided  authority  and,  finally, 
after  fifteen  years  of  trial,  the  advocates  of  militarism 
won  out  and  the  excellent  woman  disciplinarian  was 
given  other  work  to  do  at  Albany.  It  is  so  much  easier 
to  make  a  boy  do  right  than  to  cause  him  to  do  right 
because  right  is  best  for  him,  and  so  much  more  readily 
comprehensible  by  the  average  male  officer  in  a  re 
formatory  institution,  that  the  military  gentlemen  in 
charge  feel  that  they  have  achieved  a  great  victory. 


IN   THE   LIGHT   OF   FIFTY    YKARS.  27 


Their  success  is  to  be  short  lived.  As  the  inmates  are 
transferred  to  the  farm,  now  in  process  of  preparation, 
militarism  will  be  subordinated  to  domesticity,  if  it  be 

not  abolished  altogether,  which  would  also  be  unfor 
tunate. 

Girls'  Department  Closed— About  ten  years  ago,  the 
last  of  the  girls  having  been  discharged  or  placed  out, 
and  no  new  ones  admitted,  this  department  was  closed. 
Co-reformation  had  not  worked  well.  The  knowledge 
of  the  character  of  girls  in  the  institution  was  sufficient 
within  itself  to  prove  a  demoralizing  tendency.  Their 
co-education  was  not,  however,  given  a  fully  satisfac 
tory  trial  because  the  teachers  started  out  with  a 
radical  disbelief  in  it.  Under  a  cottage  system,  where 
the  inmates  are  carefully  classified  as  to  character,  it 
might  work  well,  but  the  result  is  at  best  problematical. 
This  will  be  the  more  apparent  if  the  reader  will  bethink 
him  of  what  would  be  the  probable  results  upon  the 
morality  of  any  co-educational  institution  if  it  came 
to  be  known  that  there  were  in  attendance  a  number  of 
young  women  of  questionable  morality. 

Going  to  the  Country— As  a  result  of  the  fifty  years 
of  experience  of  Rochester  Eeform  School  it  is  moving 
to  the  country  and  will  soon  become  "The  Agricultural 
and  Industrial  Reform  School"  of  Western  New  York. 
For  this  purpose  1406  acres  of  fairly  good  land  have 
been  purchased  at  Pixley,  not  far  from  Rochester,  and 
it  is  being  transformed  into  thirty  farms  or  gardens. 
The  farms  will  comprise  about  fifty  acres  each.  The 
gardens  will  be  smaller  and  correspondingly  more  in 
tensely  cultivated.  The  buildings  on  each  farm  will 
cost  about  $10,000  and  will  accommodate  25  boys  each, 
with  barns  for  cows  and  horses,  pigs  and  chickens. 
Each  two-cottages  will  constitute  a  school  district,  and 
the  teacher  will  hold  school  in  one  during  the  morning 
hours  and  in  the  other  during  the .  afternoon.  The 
housework  will  be  done  mainly  by  the  boys,  and  a  half 
of  each  dav  will  be  given  to  farm  work.  There  will  be 


28  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

shops  centrally  located  for  such  industrial  work  as 
self-support  requires  to  have  done.  The  brightest  lads 
will  be  given  the  shop  work.  The  dunderheads  will 
farm.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  New  York  farmer  will 
not  prove  insensible  to  the  delicate  compliment  thus 
conveyed  him. 

The  Redemptive  Element— If  the  new  system  is  to 
evolve  any  saving  grace  above  the  old  it  will  be  because 
'of  the  quality  of  the  "house  fathers"  and  "house 
mothers"  who  are  to  be  put  in  immediate  charge  of 
the  thirty  cottages.  They  are  being  selected  by  civil 
service  methods.  Each  man  and  wife  will  receive  $900 
a  year  and  house  and  food.  The  crucial  struggle  now 
is  to  find  the  right  persons  for  these  positions.  They 
must  be  without  children  of  their  own,  resolute,  robust 
and  tactful,  with  hearts  in  their  work,  or  the  scheme 
will  fail. 

Agricultural  Education  .Not  Contemplated— This  sort 
of  education  is  thought  to  be  beyond  reform  school  boys. 
The  house  masters  are  to  receive  instruction  in  methods 
from  the  college  of  agriculture  at  Cornell,  and  some 
thing  of  this  is  expected  to  filter  down  to  the  boys,  but 
the  plan  is  to  make  physical,  not  educated,  farmers  or, 
more  property,  farm  laborers. 

Their  Stay  Short— Fifty  years  of  experience  has 
taught  the  wisdom  of  getting  boys  out  of  the  reform 
school  as  soon  as  possible.  Their  average  stay  is  not 
above  a  year,  during  wrhich  time  the  refractory  lad  may 
be  partially  trained,  if  at  all.  He  is  then  placed  out  at 
work  and  looked  after  outside  under  a  good  system  of 
parole  and  visitation.  It  will  be  found  less  necessary 
to  shorten  the  stay  of  boys  under  the  cottage  than 
under  the  congregate  system  which  has  heretofore 
obtained. 


LYMAN  SCHOOL   FOR  BOYS.  29 

CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  LYMAN  SCHOOL  FOR  BOYS. 

This  institution  is  at  Westboro,  Massachusetts,  a  few 
miles  out  from  Worcester,  and  was  established  as  long' 
ago  as  1848.  It  was  under  the  congregate  system  at 
first,  as  were  all  institutions  of  this  class,  but  as  long 
ago  as  1861  it  began  to  change  to  the  cottage  plan, 
completing  the  change  in  1885.  There  are  now  eleven 
cottages,  each  holding  30  to  38  boys,  a  house  father 
and  mother  and  one  teacher  as  a  boarder.  There  are 
some,  and  should  be  as  many  as  ten,  single  rooms  in 
each  cottage  to  be  earned  by  good  conduct.  The  rest 
sleep  in  dormitories. 

Well  Sifted  Out— No  lad  is  admitted  to  this  school 
\vho  has  not  made  for  himself  an  institutional  record. 
The  aim  is,  not  to  get  boys  into  the  school,  but  to  keep 
them  out  if  possible  and  to  get  them  out  as  soon  as 
possible.  Therefore,  no  boy  enters  the  Lyman  school 
until  the  probation  officer  gives  him  up  as  a  bad  job 
and  not  until  the  law  has  done  all  it  can  do  to  enforce 
parental  responsibility.  If  lads  are  committed  as  young 
as  twelve  years  of  age  they  are  not  brought  directly 
to  the  institution,  but  are  sent  to  a  detention  home 
twelve  miles  away,  where  they  are  left  in  the  custody 
of  a  good  man  and  woman,  a  good  teacher  and  one  or 
two  attendants,  with  the  view  of  straightening  them 
up  there  if  possible.  In  many  if  not  most  cases  it  is 
possible,  and  the  youngsters  are  not  brought  to  the 
reform  school  at  all. 

Boarded  Out — Massachusetts  has  an  elaborate  and 
successful  boarding-out  system  for  delinquent  as  well 
as  dependent  children.  It  pays  $2  per  week  board  and 
allows  $25  per  year  for  clothes.  These  younger  delin 
quents  are  placed  with  reputable  farmers  at  this  price, 
where  they  are  sent  to  the  public  school  and  to  church 


30  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

and  are  taught  to  work  between  times.  They  are 
kindly  but  firmly  treated  and,  in  most  instances,  are 
given  their  first  real  chance  to  be  something,  and  that 
chance  suffices. 

Sloyd  and  Garden — If  the  lad  committed  is  over 
twelve,  or  if  the  detention  home  above  referred  to  did 
not  reform  him,  he  is  brought  to  the  institution  and 
assigned  to  a  cottage  according  to  his  "youth"  rather 
than  according  to  his  age,  for  there  is  a  difference  in 
point  of  attainment.  For  half  the  day  he  works  In  the 
open  air  or  in  the  sloyd  room  and  for  half  a  day  he  goes 
to  school,  but  a  constant  attempt  is  made  to  get  at  the 
intellectual  through  the  manual,  and  with  much  success. 
I  saw  the  autumnal  remains  of  325  school  gardens,  and 
practically  all  of  them  had  been  successful.  In  winter 
the  structure  of  leaves  and  the  mystery  of  germination 
are  taught  with  unflagging  zeal  on  the  part  of  the 
students,  who  watch  the  unfolding  of  nature's  processes 
with  greatest  interest.  The  sloyd  teachers  are  women, 
and  are  more  successful  than  men  teachers,  because 
they  are  able  to  take  the  whole  boy  into  their  hearts. 
They  not  only  teach  him  sloyd,  but  he  must  learn  all 
he  can  about  the  history  of  the  tools  and  different 
woods  used  and  write  original  compositions  about  them. 
This  quickens  the  whole  process  into  life  and  creates 
that  living  interest  without  which  there  is  no  progress 
worth  mentioning.  The  farm  and  the  dairy  supple 
ment  the  gardening,  as  the  carpenter's  shop  and 
cabinet-maker's  supplement  sloyd.  It  is  surprising 
how,  by  these  methods,  the  almost  uniformly  blunted 
intellects  of  these  boys  are  quickened  into  sharpness 
and  stimulated  to  do  things  worth  while. 

The  Discipline— It  is  recognized  by  Superintendent 
Chapin  that  a  large  measure  of  personal  liberty  is  essen 
tial  to  normal  growth  of  character  and,  for  this  reason, 
he  trusts  his  charges  a  good  deal.  Occasionally  a  boy 
runs  away.  If  so  he  is  generally  caught  and  brought 
back  and  he  and  his  associates  therebv  learn  a  lesson 


LYMAN  SCHOOL  FOR   BOYS.  31 

in  law  not  without  value.  If,  however,  a  boy  shows 
himself  to  be  an  incorrigible  runaway  he  is  transferred 
to  Concord  Reformatory,  which,  being  a  walled  prison, 
closely  guarded,  holds  him.  If  ordinary  .methods  of 
fatigue  punishment  do  not  suffice  to  correct  bad  con 
duct,  a  little  contrivance  called  the  Jasli  is  applied 
stingingly.  It  is  made  up  of  about  ten  inches  of  rubber 
gas  hose  fastened  to  a  pine  stick  with  a  leather  string. 
It  does  not  weigh  over  four  ounces  handle  and  all,  but 
it  serves  its  purpose  well.  If  this  does  not  meet  re 
quirements  the  refractory  boy  is  not  given  over  to 
Satan  to  be  tortured  in  hades  until  the  remedial  in 
fluences  of  a  young  hickory  switch  have  been  thor 
oughly  tested.  It  has  been  known  to  work  like  a  charm 
where  all  else  had  failed,  but  its  application  is  re 
served  as  a  dernier  resort,  and  it  probably  is  not  the 
hundredth  bad  boy  who  requires  it.  The  military  has 
a  good,  but  subordinate,  place  in  the  disciplinary 
system. 

The  Home  Tie — Superintendent  Chapin  has  found  the 
home  tie  extremely  important  to  hold  on  to  in  redeem 
ing  a  bad  looy.  A  good  many  boys  run  away  through 
home-sickness.  If  they  love  home  well  enough  to 
behave  at  home  they  are  placed  on  parole  there  and, 
sometimes,  are  allowed  to  remain.  The  hope  of  going 
home  is  held  ever  before  them  and  they  are  kept  in  as 
close  touch  with  home  as  possible,  unless  the  home  is 
in  fact  utterly  unfit;  but  almost  any  home  is  better 
than  no  home  and  the  home  is  given  the  benefit  of  any 
doubt  that  may  exist.  The  severing  of  the  home  tic 
makes  savages  of  most  men,  and  not  less  so  of  boys. 
There  is  little  reason  to  doubt  that  the  crimes  against 
womanhood  which  young  negroes  have  committed  since 
the  war  are  directly  attributable  to  this  cause.  As  long 
as  negroes  had  homes  on  the  old  plantations  the  per 
sons  of  white  women  in  the  "big  house"  were  sacred 
in  their  eyes,  and  the  men  folks  were  able  to  go  to  war 
to  fight  against  the  freeing  of  the  slaves,  perfectly 
secure  in  the  knowledge  that  the  slaves,  against  whoso 


32  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

freedom  they  were  fighting,  would  preserve  their  white 
mistresses  and  their  families  free  from  all  harm.  Not 
all  reform  schools  value  the  "home  tie"  as  rationally 
and  usefully  as  does  Lyman  School  for  Boys. 

The  Parole  System — Although  Lyman  school  has  an 
average  attendance  of  only  about  335  boys,  whose 
comings  and  goings  amount  to  about  200  a  year,  Massa 
chusetts  thinks  it  worth  Avhile  to  maintain  four  parole 
officers  to  find  homes  for  the  lads  who  are  ready  to 
go  out  and  to  visit  them  when  they  have  gone*  out. 
For  the  year  ending  September  30,  1905,  there  went 
out  from  the  school  boys  to  the  number  of  about  300. 
Of  these,  142  were  paroled  to  parents,  88  went  to  others, 
and  49  were  boarded  out.  The  remainder  ran  away 
and  were  not  caught  or  were  transferred  to  the  Concord 
Reformatory,  either  because  of  running  away  or  cm 
account  of  developing  criminal  tendencies.  When 
paroled  the  boys  are  visited  several  times  a  year  by  the 
regular  parole  officers,  usually  until  21,  although  they 
are  allowed  to  make  their  own  contracts  for  service 
after  reaching  18  years  of  age.  All  told,  it  costs  only 
about  half  as  much  to  keep  the  boys  out  of  the  insti 
tution  as  to  keep  them  in  it,  and  they  are  the  better 
for  it. 

A  book  the  size  of  this  one  might  easily  be  written 
about  the  Lyman  School  for  Boys. 

CHAPTER  X. 
THE  GLEN  MILLS  HOUSE  OF  REFUGE. 

This  is  one  of  the  model  institutions  of  our  country. 
It  is  an  hour's  ride  out  of  Philadelphia,  is  owned  by  a 
self-perpetuating  benevolent  corporation,  has  535 
acres  of  land  and  has  an  investment  of  a  round  million 
of  dollars,  but  it  takes  only  children  committed  to  it 
by  the  courts.  The  girls'  division  is  in  Philadelphia, 
having  been  divorced  from  the  co-reformatory  idea  in 
the  light  of  fuller  experience. 


GLEN    MILLS    HOl'SK   OF    RKKTGE.  -U 

Trades  and  Agriculture— This  is  primarily  a  trades 
school,  although  a  good  deal  of  profitable  farm  work 
is  done.  No  especial  effort  is  made  to  teach  agriculture 
as  a  profession.  About  ten  trades  are  taught  and  the 
appliances  for  teaching  are  very  good,  but  it  has  been 
found  that  even  if  a  boy  learns  a  trade  pretty  thor 
oughly  he  can  not  command  a  man's  wages  until  he 
has  reached  a  man's  age.  A  position  as  an  advanced 
apprentice  is  about  as  good  a  thing  as  a  graduate  can 
hope  for,  even  if  he  be  ever  so  proficient,  and  some  of 
the  graduates  do  become  quite  proficient.  There  are 
about  700  boys  in  attendance. 

The  Cottage  Plan— The  houses  of  refuge  for  the  Glen 
Mills  boys  consist  of  fifteen  very  handsome  cottages, 
housing  about  50  boys  under  each  roof.  In  classifying 
them  one  absolute  division  is  made,  as  at  Rochester  and 
Lyman  school,  at  puberty.  Within  the  two  subdivisions 
thus  made,  the  next  divisions  are  made  more  as  to 
equality  of  size  than  age,  and  the  final  divisions  with 
regard  to  moral  fiber.  Each  cottage  is  in  charge  of  a 
master  and  matron,  and  the  master  must  be  a  teacher 
of  mechanics  during  the  day.  The  requirements  are 
exacting.  The  pay  for  man  and  wife,  with  not  more 
than  one  child,  ranges  from  $800  to  $900  a  year,  with 
house  and  board,  lights  and  fuel  found;  but  to  meet 
all  requirements  the  house  master  has  got  to  be  a  good 
mechanic,  and  a  good  instructor  in  mechanics,  and  his 
wife  must  be  a  good  housekeeper  and  capable  of  com 
manding  the  esteem  and  obedience  of  a  family  of  fifty 
bad  boys.  It  looks  at  first  thought  as  though  these 
exactions  were  b4eyond  realization,  but  by  a  system  of 
careful  selection,  on  the  part  of  the  superintendent 
himself,  absolute^  untouched  by  political  or  other 
outside  influence,  the  applicants  being  trained  first  as 
reliefs,  a  working  degree  of  success  has  been  achieved. 
This  gives  something  of  an  idea  of  what  the  much 
vaunted  "cottage  plan"  requires  for  successful  reali 
zation. 


3  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFK. 

The  Spirit  of  Glen  Mills— 1  found  the  spirit  and  policy 
of  the  Glen  Mills  institution  more  noteworthy  for  its 
own  intelligence  and  excellence  than  for  patience  with 
other  systems  maintained  by  other  institutions — insti 
tutions,  by  the  way,  producing  aboiit  the  same  results, 
and  for  reasons  set  forth  in  the  chapter  on  "What 
Makes  Bad  Boys  Good."  The  essential  elements  of 
!  the  Glen  Mills  idea  are,  first,  the  making  of  full  use  of 
i  the  home  instinct.  Boys  are  required  to  write  home 
at  least  once  a  month,  and  may  receive  visits  from  home 
once  a  month,  and,  in  all  ways,  the  boy  is  reminded  of 
home  life  when  possible. 

Second,  for  reformatory  or,  as  Superintendent  Nie- 
becker  terms  it,  "formatory,"  influence  great  reliance 
is  placed  upon  the  personality  of  the  personnel  of 
house  masters  and  matrons,  teachers  and  such  other 
officials  as  are  engaged  in  the  work  of  the  institution. 
No  loose  talk,  unmannerly  or  degrading  influences  are 
allowed,  and  the  treatment  of  the  lads  must  be  such  as 
is  expected  from  them.  All  the  employes  are  high- 
grade  people. 

Third,  discipline  is  en  masse,  and  for  the  reason  that 
the  bad  boy  is,  as  elsewhere  more  fully  explained, 
preeminently  and  even  exasperatingly  an  individualist, 
who  must  learn  that  concessions  from  absolute  liberty 
of  action  must  be  made  for  the  common  good  of  the 
social  whole.  The  boy  can  not  learn  this  anywhere 
else  so  well  as  under  a  congregate  system  of  life  and 
discipline.  There  he  gets  the  social  instinct  hustled  or 
punched  into  him. 

Fourth,  and  finally,  education  at  Glen  Mills  is  in 
severalty.  If  the  congregate  mass  were  too  great  this 
could  not  be  accomplished,  but  by  having  a  good  num 
ber  of  teachers,  and  limiting  the  sizes  of  classes  to  fif 
teen  or  sixteen,  and  having  only  half-day  attendance 
upon  the  schools  of  letters,  much  individual  work  can 
be  done.  In  short,  the  educational  system  at  Glen  Mills 
approximates  as  closely  as  possible  to  that  of  the 
"little  red  school  house,",  where  the  boy  goes  into  a 


(!LKN   MILLS    HOUSE   OK    UKFIXJK.  :{f> 

higher  class  when  lie  is  ready  and  promotions  are  not 
made  by  classes. 

Parole  and  Discharge— Lads  are  committed  to  the 
House  of  Refuge  until  their  majority,  but  a  very  earnest 
and  attentive  lad  may  earn  his  way  out  in  eighteen 
months.  The  average  time  is  two  years  and  one  month. 
At  Lyman  school  it  is  20.39  months.  It  may  be  re 
membered  that  at  Rochester  it  was  thought  best  to  get 
the  boy  out  if  possible  in  one  year.  The  same  was  held 
to  be  true  at  the  Catholic  Protectory  at  Westchester, 
New  York.  It  seems  to  me  that  both  policies  are  well 
grounded.  Under  the  enlarged  congregate  system  the 
individualistic  boy  is  likely  to  have  learned  his  lesson 
in  social  concession  within  a  year.  After  that,  if  he 
remains,  he  is  likely  to  lose  his  power  of  self-direction 
and  become  absorbed  by  the  mass  spirit.  In  a  modified 
congregate-cottage  system,  as  at  Lyman  and  Glen  Mills. 
this  last  danger  is  not  so  serious  but  that  the  advan 
tages  to  be  gained  by  remaining  longer  and  learning 
more  outweigh  the  danger.  I  find  myself  in  substantial 
agreement  with  both  contentions. 

Discipline— Military  drill  is  maintained  at  Glen  Mills 
for  the  sake  of  the  drill,  but  militarism  does  not  domi 
nate.  Physical  training  under  a  most  competent 
director  exerts  an  important  influence  in  straightening 
up  characters  as  well  as  bodies,  and  these  trainings 
are  stimulated  by  competitive  athletic  exercises  at  fre 
quent  intervals.  Sloyd  is  employed  to  good  advantage 
with  the  younger  lads,  but  the  older  boys  are  worked 
into  practical  manufacture  as  soon  as  possible.  They 
like  to  do  real  things,  and  at  least  some  of  their  build 
ings  have  been  erected  by  them.  Glen  Mills  does  not 
exactly  have  a  merit  system,  but  it  does  have  a  demerit 
system,  and  daily  charges  are  made  against  each  lad's 
record  where  they  are  deserved.  The  extreme  penalty 
is  the  application  of  the  rattan,  which  is  infrequent, 
deprivation  of  privileges  being  ordinarily  sufficient  to 
secure  good  behavior.  Want  of  character  is  what 


<  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

brought  the  lads  to  the  institution,  and  they  are  sent 
out  as  soon  as  there  is  reason  to  believe  them  capable 
of  intelligent  and  honest  self-direction.  There  are 
three  parole  officers  who  visit  those  who  have  gone 
out,  and  the  percentage  of  redemptions  ranks  up  with 
the  best  of  similar  institutions. 

The  location  of  the  House  of  Refuge  is  both  beautiful 
and  healthful,  and  my  visit  to  the  institution  was  as 
agreeable  as  I  hope  it  will  be  profitable. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
THE  GEORGE  JUNIOR  REPUBLIC. 

This  is  something  new  under  the  sun  in  the  way  of 
a  reformatory  institution.  It  is  beautifully  located  at 
Freeville,  in  Central  New  York,  over  against  one  of 
those  incomparable  New  York  slopes  that  one  never 
tires  of,  leaning  gently  up  against  the  horizon.  It 
commands  a  fine  prospect  and  affords  fair  soil  for 
farming.  The  area  controlled  by  the  institution  com 
prises  350  acres,  of  which  200  acres  are  cultivated  by 
the  boys  of  the  institution. 

"Daddy"— The  founder  of  the  institution,  Mr.  W.  R. 
George,  belongs  in  a  class  all  by  himself.  To  all  of  the 
children  under  his  care  he  is  known  only  as  "Daddy," 
as  familiarly  known  as  ever  any  daddy  was.  The  first 
impression  made  upon  meeting  this  gentleman  is  that 
one  has  encountered  a  very  mellow  personality,  a  fad 
dist  if  not  a  giisher,  but  a  little  further  acquaintance 
persuades  one  that  although  "Daddy"  may  be  very 
soft  and  pliable  on  the  exterior  it  is  not  very  far  under 
the  skin  to  where  a  sound,  and  quite  inflexible  granite 
manhood  exists.  He  was  a  police  officer  in  New  York 
when  Theodore  Roosevelt  was  police  commissioner  in 
that  city.  He  had  a  roving  commission  and  busied 
himself  with  studying  the  delinquent  boy  in  his  lair, 
with  special  reference  to  "de  head  of  de  gang."  He 


(iKORGE  JUNIOR   REPUBLIC.  ^ 

also  interested  himself  in  the  deprivations  of  childhood 
in  the  congested  districts,  and  his  first  work  for  the 
amelioration  of  delinquent  and  dependent  childhood 
was  to  .organize  summer  vacation  trips  to  the  home  of 
his  own  boyhood  out  at  Freeville. 

It  was  out  of  this  experience  that  Mr.  George  evolved 
his  Junior  Republic  idea.  The  crucial  issue  is  whether 
the  success  of  the  enterprise  is  due  to  Mr.  George  or 
to  his  system.  He  thinks  that  it  is  due  to  his  system. 
I  am  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  it  is  to  Mr.  George 
and  his  extraordinary  personality. 

Mr.  George  is  himself  an  athlete,  and  he  requires  the 
maintenance  of  no  artificial  atmosphere  of  dignity  to 
surround  him  in  order  to  preserve  the  respect  as  well 
as  the  love  of  all  his  charges.  They  are  at  liberty  to 
take  hold  of  him  at  any  time,  catch  as  catch  can,  to 
stroke  his  chin  and  ruffle  his  hair  with  the  fond  famil 
iarity  of  the  wife  of  his  bosom,  or  to  make  him  knuckle 
down  in  a  contest  of  finger  power,  which,  I  think,  no 
one  of  them  has  ever  been  able  to  accomplish.  A  citizen 
of  Freeville  related  to  me  this  characteristic  incident : 
While  lying  prone  upon  the  lawn  five  of  his  husky  foot 
ball  players  took  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to 
jump  on  to  "Daddy"  to  hold  him  down.  He  tossed 
one  off  with  one  arm,  a  second  with  the  other  and  got 
up  with  three  on  his  back.  No  trouble  for  that  kind 
of  a  specimen  of  physical  manhood  to  command  the 
respect  of  adolescent  humanity! 

For  Boys  and  Girls  Both— On  the  day  of  my  visit 
the  Junior  Republic  numbered  84  boys  and  45  girls. 
They  range  from  14  years  up  to  17  or  18,  and  some  of 
the  older  ones  may  be  nearing  one-and-twenty.  The 
girls  have  their  own  hotel,  but  they  do  the  work  for 
the  other  hotels  also.  They  all  go  to  school  half  a  day 
and  work  the  other  half,  and  with  as  much  freedom  as 
in  the  public  schools,  except  that  no  girl  is  allowed  out 
of  doors  after  dusk  unattended  by  an  older  woman. 
There  have  been  some  minor  scandals  because  of  the 


38  JNSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

co-educational  feature,  but,  as  Mr.  George  declared, 
not  one  to  where  there  would  have  been  a  hundred 
among  the  same  persons  outside,  and  yet  no  girl  of 
known  immoral  tendencies  is  admitted  to  the  republic. 

The  Raw  Material— Mr.  George  divides  delinquent 
humanity  into  three  general  classes.  In  the  first  he 
puts  those  who  have  robust  wills  and  won'ts.  They 
are  headstrong  and  not  unlikely  to  be  stubborn.  In 
the  ordinary  reformatory  institution  they  are  not  un 
likely  to  prove  intractable  and  to  be  turned  over  to 
penal  institutions  as  being  incorrigible.  Mr.  George 
especially  desires  to  secure  the  custody  of  persons  of 
this  class,  because  he  believes  that,  under  favoring 
conditions,  something  the  better  worth  while  can  be 
made  out  of  them.  The  material  is  of  the  most  valu 
able  sort,  but  is  being  spoiled  in  the  making. 

A  second  class  are  not  essentially  bad,  but  lack 
motive  power.  Neither  their  wills  nor  their  won'ts  are 
especially  strong,  but  they  are  inclined  to  deceive  and 
to  steal.  In  such  cases  he  searches  for  a  dominating 
trend  in  a  right  direction,  toward  mechanics,  music, 
art  or  whatever  promises  most,  and,  by  assiduous  culti 
vation  of  this  faculty,  he  seeks  to  smother  the  criminal 
tendency,  which  may  be  outgrown. 

The  third  subdivision  of  delinquent  humanity  is  made 
up  of  those  creatures  of  habit  who  do  the  things  the.y 
have  been  accustomed  to  do,  whether  good  or  evil. 
Mr.  George  thinks  that  as  these  can  be  handled  well 
enough  by  ordinary  reform  schools  he  can  better  direct 
his  efforts  to  the  first  two  classes  and,  by  preference, 
the  first,  commonly  regarded  as  most  difficult. 

The  System— Mr.  George's  system  of  character  form 
ing  or,  reforming,  is  so  simple  as  to  go  clear  back  to 
the  elemental  impulses  underlying  all  human  society. 
The  first  proposition  is  that  there  shall  be  nothing 
without  labor,  but  everything  with  it.  Every  new  in 
mate  must  pay  for  his  board  in  advance  or  he  does  not 
oat.  He  is  at  liberty  to  seek  for  work  as  soon  as  his 


(JKOIUJK   -M'NIOR   KKL'l  BUC. 

name  lias  been  booked,  but  if  lie  has  means  he  may 
hire  a  room  at  a  hotel  in  the  colony,  pay  for  his  board 
in  advance  and  look  about  a  bit.  He  may  even  borrow 
of  those  who  will  lend,  but  if  he  begs  he  is  arrested  arid 
thrown  into  jail  upon  a  charge  of  vagrancy.  The 
vagrant  wrorks  on  the  republic  chaingang,  eats  on  a  bare 
table  off  tin  dishes  and  sleeps  in  the  splendid  jail  John 
D.  Rockefeller  gave— the  cornerstone  of  the  republic. 
The  raw  recruit  is  not  unlikely  to  spend  half  his  time 
for  the  first  six  months  in  jail,  but  when  it  finally 
soaks  into  his  consciousness  that  there  is  really  "noth 
ing  without  labor,"  he  has  been  given  a  right  start. 

The  Saving  Grace  of  Property — As  soon  as  the  raw 
recruit  gets  out  of  jail  and  develops  a  determination 
to  work,  his  way  is  made  easy.  He  will  be  allowed 
$1.50  per  week  for  going  to  school,  and  $4.50  to  $6 
per  week  for  'prentice  work  in  any  of  the  trades,  all 
payable  in  the  aluminum  money  of  the  republic  and  re 
deemable  at  the  republic's  store,  hotels,  and  boarding- 
houses.  Now  as  soon  as  the  New  York  "tough"  secures 
a  room  of  his  own  and  a  little  bunch  of  worldly  pos 
sessions  which  he  has  earned  he  is  in  favor  of  law  and 
order. 

If  all  the  sneak-thieves  and  pickpockets  of  New  York 
were  marooned  on  an  island  and  left  to  work  out  their 
own  destinies  it  would  not  be  a  fortnight  before  they 
would  be  enacting  strict  laws  against  sneak-thievery 
and  pocket-picking  and  would  enforce  those  laws  by 
doing  some  expeditious  hanging.  Property  rights  are 
elemental  and  powerful  factors  in  holding  society 
together,  and  the  George  Junior  Republic  has  made  a 
fundamental  use  of  those  rights. 

The  Government — Stripped  of  a  few  high  sounding- 
names,  such  as  President,  Secretary  of  State,  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  etc.,  the  government  of  the  George 
Junior  Republic  is  that  of  a  New  England  or  New 
York  town.  The  legislative  body  consists  of  the  whole 
citizenry  who  are  fortunate  enough  to  be  out  of  jail 


40  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

assembled  in  town  meeting.  The  girls  over  14  have 
the  same  rights  of  citizenship  as  the  boys,  and  the  con 
stitution  allows  a  large  liberty  of  home  rule.  In  the 
background  is  a  veto  power  vested  in  Mr.  George,  but 
he  has  used  it  very  rarely  if  at  all.  He  finds  it  better 
to  permit  mistakes  to  be  made,  discovered  and  reme 
died  by  the  citizens  themselves. 

There  is  a  court  presided  over  by  an  elected  judge, 
which  sits  in  a  public  hall  once  or  twice  a  week  for  the 
consideration  of  all  infractions  of  the  laws  of  the 
republic,  and  it  sits  with  gravity  and  deals  with  de 
linquents  with  an  almost  unvarying  soundness  of  judg 
ment.  There  is  also  a  court  of  appeal  in  the  persons 
of  certain  members  of  the  management,  but  few  de 
cisions  are  reversed.  In  short,  whatever  any  well- 
ordered  community  will  do  under  a  given  state  of 
circumstances  to  preserve  order  and  defend  property 
is  done  in  the  George  Junior  Republic  and  by  the  regu 
larly  constituted  authorities  of  that  republic. 

The  Difference— Outside,  the  strong-willed  boy  or 
girl  comes  in  conflict  with  laws  which  others  have  made. 
Here  one  comes  in  contact  with  laws  which  he  has  him 
self  had  a  share  in  making.  Outside,  to  be  arrested  by 
a  portly  ' '  cop ' '  and  taken  to  a  court  for  trial,  and  into 
the  newspapers,  possibly  with  portrait  annexed,  and 
then  sent  to  "do  time"  in  some  prison  or  reformatory, 
is  to  become  a  petty  hero  with  the  gang,  and  is  neces 
sary  to  becoming  the  head  of  the  gang.  Here,  to  be 
arrested  by  a  boy  policeman  and  brought  before  a  boy 
judge,  and  made  to  work  on  a  boy  chaingang  under 
boy  supervision  for  a  boy  and  girl  republic,  is  not  a 
thing  to  boast  about  when  back  with  the  gang.  It 
takes  the  braggadocio  all  out  of  a  fellow  and  gives  him 
a  chance  to  see  the  better  way. 

The  newcomer  who  vaunts  of  the  bad  things  he  has 
done  outside  is  set  down  as  a  suspicious  character,  and 
if  an  offense  is  committed  anywhere  in  the  republic, 
he  is  forthwith  arrested  on  suspicion  and  throwrn  into 
jail  pending  investigation.  An  experience  or  two  of 


GEORGE  JUNIOR  REPUBLIC.  41 

this  kind  puts  a  stop  to  boasting-  of  being  a  bad  man, 
and  the  lad  tries  to  get  into  the  good  graces  of  the 
community  instead  of  being  its  ever-present  victim. 
The  jail  is,  as  already  stated,  much  used  by  newcomers. 

Large  Liberty  Allowed— As  soon  as  a  newcomer  be 
comes  a  citizen,  and  has  entered  into  the  spirit  of  citi 
zenship,  he  is  permitted  the  largest  measure  of  liberty. 
He  goes  and  comes  as  he  pleases,  remembering  only  that 
he  is  a  citizen  of  the  republic  and  that  he  owes  it  an 
honest  allegiance.  The  school  has  now  been  graded 
up  so  that  it  fits  its  graduates  for  college,  and  the  lad 
who  has  fitted  himself  for  college,  and  wants  to  go,  will 
not  be  without  some  friend  of  the  republic  to  furnish 
the  needful  means,  to  be  repaid  when  it  can  be,  and  a 
number  of  young  persons  from  the  republic  are  now 
taking  college  courses  in  different  institutions  of 
learning. 

A  Thought-Inspiring  Institution— It  is  too  much  to 
say  that  the  George  Junior  Republic  idea  has  demon 
strated  its  superiority  to  all  other  ideas  underlying  re 
formatory  institutions.  It  has  been  feeling  its  way  along, 
is  still  poor  and  far  from  self-sustaining.  I  found  that 
managers  of  other  reformatory  institutions  had  little 
faith  in  the  George  Junior  experiment,  but  they  also 
had,  generally  speaking,  little  faith  in  any  system  of 
reformation  except  their  own.  It  is  human  to  believe 
that  the  best  way  to  secure  right  action  is  to  compel  it, 
but  if  the  general  government  at  Washington  were  to 
seek  to  govern  this  country  on  principles  applied  by  the 
ordinary  reform  school  its  authority  would  be  over 
thrown  in  a  fortnight.  The  American  citizen  will  not 
be  governed  by  any  one  not  of  his  own  choosing,  and 
the  headstrong  boy  will  not.  At  the  republic  he  is 
allowed  to  become  self-governing.  I  can  not  restrain 
the  thought  that  every  reform  school  might  be  made 
more  democratic  and  less  autocratic  with  profit,  and  it 
is  not  impossible  that  the  George  Junior  idea  might 
have  some  place  in  the  social  economy  of  prisons. 


42  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

Legislating  in  the  Light  of  Experience— I  am  loath  to 
leave  this  subject  without  making  some  reference  to  the 
George  Junior  Republic's  experience  with  the  eight- 
hour  labor  law.  The  agitation  for  an  eight-hour  labor 
day  struck  the  republic  with  full  force  and  the  boys 
were  all  heartily  in  favor  of  it,  but  the  girls  protested 
that  they  could  not  do  their  household  work  in  eight 
hours,  when  they  had  deducted  therefrom  four  hours 
devoted  to  attendance  upon  school,  a  universal  sj^stem 
for  all  workers  at  the  republic.  The  boys  contended 
that  the  girls  could  do  their  part  as  well  as  the  boys 
if  they  only  planned  their  work  aright  and  worked 
diligently  while  they  worked,  so  the  eight-hour  day 
was  established  by  overwhelming  vote  after  thorough 
discussion. 

The  evening  succeeding  the  morning  when  the  eight- 
hour  law  went  into  effect  there  was  not  a  supper  served 
in  the  George  Junior  Republic.  The  girls  saw  that  the 
boys  were  all  quitting  work  when  the  eight  hours  were 
up  and  so  they  dropped  their  domestic  duties  right 
where  they  were  without  having  made  a  single  supper 
ready.  They  acted  fairly,  for,  as  they  had  prepared 
no  suppers  for  the  boys,  neither  had  they  for  them 
selves,  and  all  retired  at  night  with  only  such  cold 
comfort  to  sustain  them  as  the  remains  of  former  meals 
put  away  in  the  cupboards  could  afford. 

This  practical  working  of  the  eight-hour  law  sufficed 
without  further  experimentation  and  the  legislative 
body  of  the  republic  was  called  into  immediate  and 
extraordinary  session  and  the  law  repealed  without  a 
dissenting  voice.  Since  then  the  citizens  of  the  George 
Junior  Republic  have  worked  until  their  work  was 
done  without  reference  to  whether  the  working  day 
consisted  of  eight  hours  or  nine  or  even  ten.  A  closed 
social  circle  like  this  republic  is  not  at  all  a  bad  place 
in  which  to  test  the  practicability  of  economic  theories 
of  questionable  soundness,  and  the  eight-hour  idea  is 
not  the  only  one  that  has  been  subjected  to  a  convincing 
experience  since  the  republic  was  established. 


MK'MICAN    INDUSTRIAL    HOME    FOR   GIRLS.  )^ 

CHAPTER  XII. 
MICHIGAN  INDUSTRIAL  HOME  FOR  GIRLS. 

Before  visiting  the  above-mentioned  institution  I 
had  conceived  the  idea,  more  perhaps  by  processes  of 
a  priori  reasoning  than  from  actual  observation  and 
experience,  tha't  a  state  is  by  nature  poorly  equipped  to 
undertake  the  reformation  of  a  wayward  girl,  but  this 
institution,  and  some  others  I  have  seen,  have  dem 
onstrated  that  the  state  can  do  the  work  as  well  as  any 
other  organization,  provided  always  that  it  will  turn 
the  job  over  to  a  good,  capable  woman,  sustain  her 
efforts  and  let  her  alone. 

Success  Achieved — Michigan  has  succeeded  by  turn 
ing  the  task  over  to  Mrs.  Lucy  M.  Sickels,  a  capable 
and  good  woman,  but  a  woman  with  a  mind  of  her  own 
and  very  definite  ideas  of  what  she  wants  to  do  and 
why  she  wants  to  do  it.  The  Board  of  Guardians  under 
whose  general  directions  she  works,  strives  to  forward 
rather  than  to  thwart  her  efforts,  and  she  has  entire 
liberty  of  choice  in  making  the  selection  of  her  sub 
ordinates.  This  is  the  crucial  point.  Without  this  no 
good  thing  can  come  out  of  any  reformatory  institution. 

The  Plant — I  found  at  this  little  colony,  a  mile  out  of 
the  attractive  town  of  Adrian,  a  population  of  350  girls 
between  the  ages  of  10  and  18  years,  all  of  whom  had 
been  incorrigible  so  far  as  home  and  other  discipline 
is  concerned.  Nearly  all  had  become  unchaste,  and 
enough  of  them  to  fill  one  cottage  had  been  taken  out 
of  the  redlight  districts  of  cities.  All.  are  committed 
until  twenty-one,  unless  sooner  paroled  or  discharged, 
and  are  made  ready  for  paroling  and  discharging  as 
soon  as  possible.  The  Home  occupies  116  acres  of  good 
land,  upon  which  have  been  erected  eight  handsome 
cottages,  an  administration  building,  school  house, 
hospital,  and  a  chapel  or  general  assembly  room.  The 
cottages  cost  about  $20,000  each,  and  each  one  accom- 


44  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

modates  from  45  to  70  girls.  Each  girl  is  given  a  room 
of  her  own  and  all  are  locked  in  at  night  by  a  mechan 
ism,  common  to  cell  houses,  whereby  a  whole  line  of 
rooms  may  be  locked  at  one  time,  yet  each  one  may  be 
unlocked  separately  in  case  of  need.  This  insures 
against  running  away  and  gives  a  girl  time  to  herself 
to  think  things  over. 

The  Personnel— The  staff  of  officers  and  attendants 
is  a  strong  one,  and  in  its  selection  the  superintendent 
is  given  full  authority  and  held  to  a  full  responsibility. 
Each  family  has  a  matron  and  a  housekeeper.  There 
are  a  number  of  ordinary  school  teachers  and  several 
specially  qualified  industrial  teachers,  besides  assist 
ants,  book-keepers,  etc.  All  of  these  whom  I  met  were 
ladies  of  evident  high  character  and  capacity,  education 
and  refinement. 

The  Saving  Graces — In  the  first  place,  the  girls  are 
well  classified,  and  each  family  is  held  pretty  closely 
to  itself.  The  little  girls  are  separated  out,  the  feeble 
minded  also  (and  there  are  some  quite  below  the 
normal  line),  then  those  who  had  been  prostitutes, 
and,  finally,  further  classification  is  by  temperament, 
behavior  and  age.  This  prevents  undoing  the  good  that 
is  done. 

The  atmosphere  of  the  place  is  one  of  industry.  The 
girls  are  doing,  or  learning  to  do,  most  of  the  time. 
Their  average  age  of  admission  is  15  years  and  their 
average  school  grade  upon  entering,  the  third.  Hence 
there  is  a  good  deal  of  school  work  to  be  done  and  the 
completion  of  the  fourth  grade  at  least  is  exacted  as  a 
condition  precedent  to  going  out  on  parole.  The  edu 
cational  equipment,  however,  carries  those  who  can 
take  it  through  the  first  year  of  the  high  school. 

Cooking — The  cooking  school  is  an  excellent  feature 
and  each  girl  takes  a  course  requiring  three  and  one 
half  hours  a  day  for  four  months  for  completion,  after 
which  the  girl  does  cooking  in  her  own  family  cottage 


MICHIGAN    INDUSTRIAL    HOMK    FOR   GIRLS.  4f> 

until  utilization  of  the  scientific  knowledge  she  has 
gained  becomes  second  nature  to  her.  I  have  not  seen 
a  better  or  more  intelligently  equipped  cooking  class 
than  this,  and  its  results  are  of  the  greatest  practical 
value. 

Sewing — Plain  sewing  is  another  course  which  takes 
three  and  one  half  hours  a  day  for  six  days  in  the  week 
during  a  period  of  four  months.  Following  this,  for 
those  who  have  ability  to  take  it,  is  a  course  of  similar 
duration  in  dress  making,'  cutting  and  fitting.  The 
naughty  girls  of  Michigan  have  not  their  development 
hampered  as  have  those  of  California  by  a  foolish  law 
prohibiting  the  making  of  officers'  clothing  or  sewing 
for  outside  customers.  All  of  the  thirty-five  officers 
have  their  clothes  made  by  the  dressmaking  class,  at 
cost,  and,  if  this  does  not  take  up  all  the  time,  a  limited 
number  of  orders  are  taken  from  the  town  of  Adrian 
for  the  girls  to  practice  on  at  about  half  the  customary 
expert  rates.  By  this  means  the  salary  of  the  teacher 
is  paid  and  the  girls  earn  a  little  something  themselves. 
The  time  from  7  o'clock  to  10:30  and  froiii  1  to  4  is 
state  time.  Overtime  work  goes  to  the  benefit  of  the 
girls,  and  they  appreciate  it. 

Music— Music  has  an  important  place  in  the  Michi 
gan  scheme  of  reformation.  The  school  at  Adrian  has 
an  orchestra  and  a  band,  and  every  girl  capable  of  it 
lias  a  chance  to  learn  some  real  accomplishment.  They 
are  eager  for  this  form  of  training  and  it  stimulates 
them  to  efforts  at  self-improvement  in  other  lines,  for 
it  gives  them  self-respect,  the  beginning  of  all  good 
attainment. 

Gardening  — A  good  gardener  is  employed  at  Adrian, 
almost  the  only  man  on  the  place,  unless  it  be  the 
engineer  and  dairyman,  whom  I  did  not  run  across. 
Girls  are  taught  to  slip  and  bud,  plant  and  propagate, 
flowers  of  all  kinds,  and  they  have  made  the  campus 
very  bright  and  attractive.  They  show  an  eager  spirit, 
and  those  who  are  the  better  for  being  out  of  doors  are 


4H  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

encouraged  to  go  out,  under  the  care  of  the  gardener, 
as  much  as  possible. 

Other  Influences— The  value  of  religious  instruction 
is  not  overlooked,  but  it  is  not  as  much  relied  on  as 
industry  and  the  personalities  of  the  officers  and  at 
tendants,  and  for  the  reason  that  not  many,  at  the  be 
ginning,  seem  capable  of  appreciating  the  value  of  the 
religious  life.  It  is  something  that  must  be  grown  into. 
There  is  a  good  deal  of  concerted  repetition  of  sound 
moralities,  philosophies  and  resolutions,  expressed  in 
verse  or  proverbs,  and  the  drilling  of  these  into  thought 
less  heads  exerts  an  influence  by  no  means  unimportant. 

All  things  considered,  I  regard  this  as  one  of  the  most 
successful  public  institutions  I  visited  while  on  my 
pilgrimage,  and  I  believe  that  if  California  were  to 
follow  a  similar  policy  it  would  achieve  similar  results. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
ILLINOIS  TRAINING  SCHOOL  FOR  GIRLS. 

I  wish  I  had  the  power  and  privilege  of  embellishing 
this  volume  just  at  this  place  with  a  finely  engraved 
portrait  of  Mrs.  Ophelia  L.  Amigh,  superintendent  of 
this  school,  and  not  only  superintendent  of  the  school 
but  of  her  board  of  trustees  and  of  several  governors  of 
Illinois,  as  well  as  innumerable  politicians  who  would 
have  thwarted  her  plans  if  she  would  have  permitted 
them  to  do  so.  She  is  a  materialization  of  feminine  (not 
masculine),  long-suffering,  enduring,  intelligent,  hope 
ful,  trustful  determination  to  do  the  right  thing  herself 
and  have  the  right  thing  done  by  others.  She  is  sane, 
self-possessed,  benignant,  dignified,  capable.  She  has  a 
mind  of  her  own  without  having  a  disagreeable  temper. 
She  is  even  diplomatic,  but  she  is  quite  capable  of  facing 
any  kind  of  opposition  and  fighting  it  to  a  finish  with 
out  tears  or  fears.  God  has  made  here  and  there  such  a 
woman.  They  are  to  be  had  for  superintendents  of 


ILLINOIS    TRAINING    SCHOOL   FOR   GIRLS.  47 

girls'  reform  schools,  and  no  reform  school  for  girls 
will  be  successful  that  has  not  much  such  a  woman  at 
its  head. 

Cottage  System— Mrs.  Amigh  has  ten  families  of  girls 
at  the  industrial  Training  School,  on  the  banks  of  Fox 
river  at  Geneva,  a  few  hours'  ride  out  of  Chicago.  The 
houses  were  not  built  for  that,  but  she  was  determined 
to  have  classification  and  segregation,  so  she  made  the 
main  building  into  flats  and  has  a  family  in  each  flat. 
She  tries  to  approximate  as  closely  as  possible  to  the 
private  family,  and  therefore  has  no  central  laundry. 
Each  family  has  its  own  laundry  and  does  its  washing 
by  hand.  It  does  all  the  rest  of  the  work  in  much  the 
same  way.  The  purpose  is  to  fit  the  girls  mainly  for 
domestic  life  on  the  farm,  and  they  are  taught  to  do 
those  things  that  homes  on  the  farms  mainly  require 
and  by  much  the  same  system  as  would  be  followed  in 
an  ordinary  farmer's  family.  Everything  that  looks 
like  a  frill  is  cut  off. 

The  Plant— There  are  91  acres  of  land  in  the  indus 
trial  farm,  and,  after  the  plowing  is  done,  quite  a  good 
deal  of  the  cultivating  is  done  by  the  girls.  The  head 
gardener  is  a  woman  and  the  girls  grow  all  the  vege 
tables  required,  and  husk  all  the  corn.  Many  of  them 
come  to  the  school  run  down  in  health  and  the  outdoor 
work  builds  them  up  as  nothing  else  could.  More  cot 
tages  and  other  buildings  are  needed,  as  there  is  a 
constant  demand  for  the  care  of  more  than  the  325 
girls  in  the  institution  on  the  occasion  of  my  visit. 
Illinois  has  not  made  nearly  as  good  provision  for  its 
wayward  girls  as  Michigan  has,  though  the  demand  for 
their  care  is  probably  greater. 

The  School— As  in  all  other  institutions  so  far  as  I 
know,  a  half  day  is  given  to  schooling  and  a  half  day 
to  industrial  work.  Only  three  teachers  are  employed 
and  the  school  is  held  in  the  congregate  system.  The 
majority  of  girls  who  come  in  are  in  the  second  or 


•48  INSTITUTIONAL    TJFE. 

third  grades  as  classified  in  the  public  school  system, 
and  they  are  taken  through  the  eighth  grade  if  possible, 
but  not  all  can  go  that  far  without  staying  too  long. 
The  aim  is  to  make  the  girls  fit  for  parole  in  two  years 
and  then  to  put  them  out  to  service  in  approved 
families. 

The  Utility  of  Play— Mrs.  Amigh  makes  out-of-door 
play,  basketball  and  baseball,  etc.,  a  means  for  growth 
in  grace.  Most  of  the  girls,  when  they  come  to  her,  do 
not  know  how  to  play  any  sort  of  game  that  ever  was, 
and  the  result  is  stupidity.  A  summer's  course  in 
physical  play  in  the  open  air  sharpens  their  wits  as 
much  as  anything  that  can  be  done  for  the  girls  in  her 
care. 

Industries  —  These  mainly  consist  in  taking  care  of 
the  homes  of  the  different  families- and  of  the  clothes  of 
the  girls.  Dressmaking  is  taught  by  a  special  teacher, 
but  there  isn't  any  cooking  school.  The  superintendent, 
wise  as  she  is  in  most  things,  regards  the  cooking  school 
as  a  fad.  It  isn't,  and  she  is  making  a  mistake.  She 
does  not  do  as  much  in  the  way  of  giving  the  girls 
accomplishments  as  is  done  in  the  Michigan  school, 
which  I  think  also  a  mistake,  but  on  the  whole  Mrs. 
Amigh  makes  as  few  mistakes  as  any  one  I  know  in 
the  work  of  reforming  naughty  girls,  or  boys  either, 
and  must  be  left  to  find  her  way  to  the  better  things 
by  processes  of  her  own.  She  will  arrive  if  she  lives 
long  enough,  for  she  is  no  back  number  or  finished 
product. 

Discipline— Mrs.  Amigh 's  system  of  discipline  con 
sists  first  in  a  square  deal  all  around,  in  uniform  kind 
ness  and  uniform  firmness,  in  deprivation  of  privileges 
for  minor  offenses,  in  applications  of  the  rubber  shoe 
across  the  maternal  knee  when  necessity  requires,  in  a 
"strong  room"  in  the  basement  where  a  refractory  girl 
may  spend  a  night  or  two  in  lonely  contemplation,  and 
in  a  boxed-in  chair  of  meditation  which  leaves  only  the 


CONNECTICUT  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOL  FOR  GIRLS.  4!) 

head  sticking  out  above  the  encompassing  boards. 
Its  monotony  of  position  and  loneliness  of  location  are 
wonderfully  argumentative  for  good  behavior. 

Little  of  System — If  this  institution  had  a  more 
elaborated  system  of  reformation  it  would  furnish  more 
to  write  about,  but  the  more  I  have  looked  into  the 
matter  the  less  important  system  seems  to  me  to  be. 
If  this  institution  had  at  its  head  a  less  marked  and 
capable  personality  it  would  need  more  of  system  to 
save  it  from  failure,  but  having  Mrs.  Ophelia  Amigh 
it  needs  ever  so  little  system  for  redeeming  the  re 
deemable  to  decent  and  useful  life.  I  have  no  manner 
of  doubt  that  her  averages  of  reformation  will  range 
abreast  of  the  best,  but  such  things  are  difficult  of 
being  figured  out  in  percentages.  The  public  mind  can 
grasp  a  percentage,  or  a  per  capita,  easier  than  it  can 
lay  hold  of  a  well-rounded  fact,  but  the  expert  mind 
turns  away  from  percentage  columns  with  a  tolerably 
well-founded  incredulity. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  two  girls  in  this  institution, 
working  only  a  part  of  the  time,  with  two  knitting 
machines,  costing  $24  each,  make  all  the  hosiery  that 
the  325  girls  require  for  summer  and  winter,  and  it 
took  them  only  two  or  three  days  to  learn  to  run  the 
machines  glibly. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
CONNECTICUT  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOL  FOR  GIRLS. 

This  institution  is  at  Middletown  and  enjoys  a  repu 
tation  in  sociological  circles  second  to  none  other  in 
the  country.  On  the  day  of  my  visit  there  were  279 
girls  in  attendance.  They  are  received  between  the 
ages  of  8  and  16,  to  be  retained  under  the  guardianship 
of  the  institution  until  21  years  of  age.  The  institution 
is  conducted  under  the  guidance  of  a  self-perpetuating 
benevolent  corporation,  and,  although  the  Governor, 

3 


50  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

Lieutenant-Governor  and  Secretary  of  State  are  011  the 
board  of  managers,  they  are  not  in  full  control  and 
the  management  of  the  school  is  entirely  outside  of 
political  influence. 

A  Distinctive  Feature— Connecticut  is  not  satisfied 
with  the  mere  task  of  undertaking  to  reform  bad  girls. 
It  goes  farther  and  undertakes  to  shelter  those  in 
danger  of  becoming  bad,  and  therefore  commits  to  the 
institution,  not  alone  girls  who  have  become  unchaste 
and  incorrigible,  but  also  those  who,  by  their  ungov- 
erned  conduct  and  dangerous  situation  in  life,  are 
likely  to  become  lewd  and  generally  demoralized.  As 
a  result  of  this  policy,  of  the  279  girls  in  the  institution 
on  the  day  of  my  visit,  not  more  than  forty  had  ever 
been  unchaste.  The  rest  were  in  danger  and  were  taken 
in  charge  by  the  state  after  exhausting  the  powrers  and 
obligations  of  parental  authority.  This  is  about  the 
wisest  bit  of  preventive  policy  it  was  my  good  fortune 
to  come  across. 

Classification— It  is  hardly  necessary. to  say  that  such 
girls  as  had  lived  lewd  lives  were  carefully  separated 
from  the  others.  They  have  one  of  the  eight  cottages 
to  themselves,  and  67  per  cent  of  those  of  this  class  who 
have  gone  out  from  the  institution  have  done,  and  are 
doing,  well.  The  first  classification  separates  from  the 
rest  such  girls  as  are  8  to  12  years  of  age.  Then  there 
is  a  disciplinary  cottage  for  those  who  are  not  readily 
governed.  The  unchaste,  as  above  stated,  are  given  a 
cottage  to  themselves.  As  for  the  remainder,  they  are 
distributed  into  families  according  to  size,  temperament 
and  convenience  of  being  disposed  of. 

The  State  Pays — The  plant  is  the  private  property  of 
the  corporation,  but  for  maintenance  the  state  of  Con 
necticut  pays  $3.50  per  week  for  each  girl  kept  in  the 
home.  This  supports  them  and  just  about  keeps  up 
repairs,  without  furnishing  anything  for  improving 
the  plant.  This  system  is  characteristic  of  Connecticut 


CONNECTICUT  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOL  FOR  GIRLS.  51 

benevolent  institutions  and  is  thought  to  work  well,  as 
it  keeps  the  management  outside  of  the  baneful  in- 
Hueiice  of  politieal  control.  The  girls  are  maintained 
in  the  school  between  three  and  four  years. 

Education — (Jood  schools  are  maintained  through  the 
grammar  grade.  Eighty-five  per  cent  of  the  girls  ad 
mitted  come  in  in  the  fifth  grade  or  below,  mainly  in 
the  second,  third,  and  fourth  grades.  It  is  regrettable 
that  instruction  is  not  given  in  instrumental  music,  and 
that  more  attention  is  not  given  to  affording  girls  some 
of  those  accomplishments  which,  though  perhaps  more 
showy  than  substantial,  are  ever  so  important  to  the 
self-respect  and  charm  of  a  girl's  life. 

Industrial  Life — The  main  effort  is  put  upon  prepara 
tion  for  domestic  life.  There  is  a  good  cooking  school, 
and  sewing  is  well  taught,  but  not  dressmaking.  Laun 
dry  work  and  general  housework  are  the  staples.  Some 
attention  is  also  given  to  gardening  and  to  the  rearing 
of  poultry  with  incubators  and  brooders.  Considerable 
attention  is  given  to  fancy  work,  but  the  trend  of  in 
dustrial  life  and  education  is  along  so-called  practical 
lines. 

The  Results— While  it  is  difficult  to  estimate  human 
attainment  in  percentages,  yet,  roughly  speaking,  91 
per  cent  of  those  who  have  gone  out  from  the  institu 
tion  have  so  conducted  themselves  as  to  be  entitled  to 
favorable  mention.  Sixty  per  cent  have  gone  back  to 
their  own  people.  The  others  have  been  provided  with 
homes  and  fair  wages  and  are  visited  by  the  institution 
visitor,  and  also  by  a  visitor  commissioned  by  the  State 
Board  of  Charities  and  Corrections.  It  should  be  men 
tioned  here,  however,  that  the  institution  does  not 
admit  girls  who  have  been  confirmed  prostitutes. 

Some  Causes— Of  the  causes  of  lewdness  the  main  one 
has  been  a  slipping  of  the  feet  under  temptation  that 
was  too  strong,  but  not  because  of  innate  depravity. 


52  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

If  not  taken  in  hand  very  soon  these  are  likely  to  pro 
gress  into  common  women  of  the  community,  if  not 
habitues  of  some  redlight  district,  and  also  to  acquire 
the  drinking  habit.  Of  all  difficult  cases  to  reform  the 
girl  who  has  the  drinking  habit  is  the  hardest.  There 
is  a  small  class  of  wayward  girlhood  born  with  evil 
tendencies,  but  these  tendencies  may  be  outgrown  and 
overcome  under  proper  treatment  if  the  drink  habit 
be  not  added  thereto.  Finally,  the  next  most  numerous 
class  is  made  up  of  those  who  have  bad  fathers  and 
mothers  and  therefore  are  without  standards  of  morality 
of  any  sort.  Their  condition  is  deplorable.  And  yet, 
as  above  stated,  67  per  cent  of  all  lewd  girls,  without 
regard  to  causes,  have,  in  the  course  of  the  last  nineteen 
years,  been  redeemed  to  useful  and  virtuous  life. 

A  Man  at  the  Head— This  reform  school  for  girls  is 
successful  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  has  a  man 
at  its  head.  It  were  nearer  right  to  say  that  it  has  the 
Fairbank  family,  for  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fairbank  and  their 
son  are  all  employed  in  the  institution.  Mrs.  Fairbank 
is  perhaps  as  much  a  factor  in  the  management  as  her 
husband.  She  maintains  a  most  constant  and  intimate 
personal  relation  with  the  girls  and  is  about  as  much 
a  mother  to  them  as  she  could  be  were  she  in  sole 
charge.  Besides,  Mr.  Fairbank  is  a  most  exceptional 
man,  and  he  has  devoted  a  lifetime  to  the  work  of 
saving  bad  boys  and  girls  to  useful  life.  The  fact  that 
he  and  his  wife  have  made  a  success  of  girl-saving  does 
not  warrant  the  conclusion  that  it  is  not,  in  the  main, 
better  to  have  such  an  institution  in  the  charge  of  a 
capable  woman. 


NEW    YORK    JUVENILE   ASYLUM.  ">:{ 

CHAPTER  XV. 
NEW  YORK  JUVENILE  ASYLUM. 

This  institution,  and  the  one  mentioned  in  the  next 
chapter,  partake  of  the  nature  of  a  reform  sehool  and  of 
an  orphanage,  performing  a  dual,  and  therefore  doubly 
valuable,  service.  The  institution  is  over  fifty  years 
old,  and  through  its  portals  have  gone  out  into  the 
world,  the  better  for  its  ministrations,  full  forty  thou 
sand  young  persons.  It  is  not  a  state  institution,  nor 
yet  metropolitan,  but  it  does  a  much  needed  work  for 
the  great  city  of  New  York  and  is  mainly  sustained  by 
allowances  from  New  York  city's  treasury.  It  re 
ceives  $104  per  year  for  each  child  under  six  years  of 
age  and  $110  for  each  child  over  six  maintained,  and 
$15  per  year  in  addition  for  educational  work. 

The  Perfected  Cottage  Plan— Until  within  the  last 
two  years  this  institution  was  in  New  York  city,  but 
it  has  recently  moved  out  to  a  splendid  table-land  loca 
tion  on  one  of  the  fine  old  estates  bordering  the  Hud 
son,  at  Dobb's  Ferry,  where  it  has  acquired  290  acres 
of  land  admirably  situated.  In  New  York  the  institu 
tion  was  conducted  on  the  congregate  system.  Out 
here  it  is  inaugurating  an  ideal  cottage  system,  or  the 
cottage  system  carried  to  its  last  analysis,  and  for  this 
reason  it  is  especially  worthy  of  consideration. 

Each  cottage  is  costing  about  $16,000  and  furnishes 
a  home  for  twenty  children,  the  boys  in  one  part  of  the 
tract  and  the  girls  in  another,  the  whole  having  been 
laid  out  admirably  by  a  landscape  gardener.  Each 
alternate  cottage  will  be  supplied  with  a  dormitory  in 
which  all  the  children  will  sleep,  and  each  alternately 
with  twenty  single  rooms  for  honor  children  who  have 
earned  the  right  to  be  in  the  first  grade  as  to  behavior. 
I  do  not  know  any  other  institution  where  it  has  been 
attempted  to  give  children  separate  rooms,  except  at 


54  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

the  George  Junior  Republic,  where  each  citizen  must 
rent  a  room  in  a  republic  lodging-house  or  lodge  in  jail. 
And  I  do  not  know  any  other  institution  where  as  few 
as  twenty  children  are  assigned  to  one  cottage.  The 
general  rule  is  to  have  thirty  to  the  cottage.  This  makes 
the  per  capita  cost  of  housing  $'800  per  child,  which  is 
pretty  high  for  a'  benevolent  institution  to  be  erected 
by  benevolence,  but  it  is  expected  that  there  will  be 
no  trouble  in  securing  memorial  donations  of  special 
cottages  enough  to  meet  all  requirements. 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  only  sixteen  cottages  were  in 
commission,  but  the  intent  is  .to  push  the  building  as 
rapidly  as  possible,  for  the  institution  is  not  carrying 
the  load  it  formerly  carried  and  the  deficiency  is  felt 
in  New  York.  It  used  to  care  for  a  thousand  children 
and,  come  to  cut  the  number  down  to  300,  it  throws  a 
heavy  burden  upon  other  institutions,  especially  the 
Catholic  Protectory  at  Westchester. 

In  the  cases  of  the  smaller  children  one  house  mother 
to  the  cottage  is  thought  to  be  sufficient,  but  with  the 
larger  ones  there  is  a  house  master  and  mother,  man 
and  wife,  the  children  doing  most  of  the  labor  except 
the  cooking  and  laundry  work.  The  cooking  is  done 
at  central  stations  and  the  food  is  carried  to  the  several 
cottages  to  be  served.  This  will  have  the  advantage 
of  cheapness,  but  the  disadvantage  of  not  bringing  the 
children  into  the  mysteries  of  family  cooking.  This  is 
the  only  concession  to  the  congregate  idea  that  I 
noticed. 

Bound  for  the  West — About  125  children  are  annu 
ally  sent  west  and  placed  in  families.  These  include 
those  who  are  free  and  fit  to  go.  If  they  are  not  fit 
they  are  made  fit  if  surgical  and  medical  skill  can  make 
them  so,  but  of  that  elsewhere.  The  children  sent  west 
are  placed  and  looked  after  by  the  Children's  Home 
Society  of  Chicago,  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Hastings 
H.  Hart,  and  with  entire  satisfaction.  Something  fur 
ther  will  also  be  said  of  this  elsewhere. 


NEW    YORK    JUVENILE   ASYLUM.  OO 

All  Children  Committed — This  institution  does  not 
accept  children  unless  the  fact  of  dependency  has  been 
judicially  determined,  which  prevents  a  great  deal  of 
imposition  upon  public  bounty;  but  not  all  children 
are  committed  to  this  institution  because  of  being  de 
pendent.  New  York  does  not  confine  its  interest  in 
childhood,  as  does  California,  to  orphans,  half  orphans 
and  abandoned  children.  It  takes  in  charge  those  who 
have  no  proper  guardianship  even  if  they  have  both 
parents  living,  and  does  it  to  prevent  their  growing  up 
to  be  criminals.  It  is  cheaper  to  handle  them  as  chil 
dren  than  as  adult  criminals. 

Children  are  also  committed  for  being  delinquent. 
This  would  seem  to  make  the  school  consist  of  three 
classes  of  children — the  dependent,  the  delinquent,  and 
those  likely  to  become  dependent  and  delinquent 
through  having  no  proper  guardianship — but  as  a 
matter  of  cold  fact  and  common  experience  they  are 
all  the  same  sort  of  children,  are  more  or  less  dependent, 
more  or  less  delinquent  and  are  more  or  less  without 
proper  guardianship.  It  is  perfectly  safe  to  congregate 
them  so  far  as  these  attributes  are  concerned,  but  they 
require  careful  separation  on  moral,  intellectual  and 
other  grounds. 

The  Mill  System — As  a  disciplinary  agent  what  is 
known  as  the  mill  system  of  reward  is  maintained  at 
this  institution,  as  it  is  also  at  Lyman  School.  A  child 
is  allowed  a  credit  of  2  mills  a  day  for  good  work  in 
school,  2  mills  for  good  work  in  the  industrial  depart 
ment,  4  mills  for  proper  behavior  in  the  cottage  and  2 
mills  for  personal  appearance.  This  makes  a  total  of 
10  mills,  or  one  cent  for  each  day,  or  $3.65  for  a  year. 
To  make  it  seem  more  important  the  accounts  are  kept 
in  money  ten  times  as  valuable,  and  is  banked  and 
checked  out  on  that  basis,  but  come  to  exchange  it 
into  the  currency  of  the  country,  it  takes  ten  cents-  of 
juvenile  money  to  be  worth  one  cent  of  real  money  to 
spend.  Whatever  it  is,  the  child  can  have  his  balance 


56  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

at  proper  times  to  spend  for  what  he  wants.  It  gives 
an  idea  of  accounts  and  works  well  in  stimulating  good 
behavior. 

The  Net  Results — Space  will  not  permit  going  into 
further  detail.  Of  the  40,000  children  who  have  passed 
through  the  institution  during  the  last  fifty  years, 
33,000  went  back  to  parents  and  relatives,  over  6,500. 
have  been  placed  in  western  homes  and  some  460  others 
are  still  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  institution  but 
are  in  western  homes.  Hereditary  criminality  has  de 
veloped  in  only  about  2%  per  cent  of  the  children  cared 
for.  Between  94  and  95  per  cent  were  sent  to  the  insti 
tution  because  of  no  proper  training  at  home.  The 
average  stay  in  the  institution  is  twenty-one  months. 

The  Future — This  will  one  day  be  a  great  institution. 
When  its  sixteen  cottages  shall  have  been  increased  to 
fifty,  and  other  accessories  in  proportion,  it  will  be 
something  worth  careful  study.  Mr.  C.  D.  Hilles,  its 
present  superintendent,  is  far-seeing  and  liberal-minded 
and  I  do  not  doubt  that  his  own  growth  will  keep  pace 
with  the  growth  of  the  institution.  Of  the  children 
who  have  gone  out  during  his  four  years  of  service 
only  5  to  8  per  cent  have  been  sent  back  as  being  unfit 
to  stay  out.  This  is  certainly  a  good  record  for  slum 
children  of  Greater  New  York. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
CATHOLIC  PROTECTORY  AT  WESTCHESTER. 

This  institution  is  of  interest  for  many  reasons,  but 
perhaps  for  none  more  than  its  being  a  frank  illustra 
tion  of  the  congregate  system  of  caring  for  dependents 
and  delinquents,  most  of  the  dependents  being  delin 
quents  and  most  of  the  delinquents  being  more  or  less 
dependent.  Here,  on  the  day  of  my  visit,  were  2621 
children  of  both  sexes.  The  girls  to  the  number  of  600 


CATUOMC   PROTECTORY    AT    \Y  KST< 'I  I  KSTKll.  57 

or  more,  and  about  200  small  boys,  were  in  the  hands 
of  the  sisters  in  an  auxiliary  institution  at  a  little 
distance,  but  on  the  same  farm  of  150  acres.  All  the 
rest  were  in  the  male  department  and  classified  as  well 
as  possible  as  to  age,  size  and  attainment.  The  male 
department  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Christian  Brother 
hood,  of  which  organization  there  were  75  brothers 
engaged  in  the  work.  The  girls  and  little  boys  require 
the  care  of  45  sisters. 

Plenty  of  Playgrounds — Long  before  the  beginning 
of  the  children's  playground  idea  this  institution  had 
established  five  large  playgrounds  for  the  boys  and 
two  for  the  girls,  and  they  are  as  much  regarded  as 
elements  of  growth  in  grace  and  understanding  as  any 
other  department  of  the  institution.  The  children  are 
all  given  plenty  of  time  for  play  in  the  open  air  and 
their  play  is  encouraged,  but  it  is  also  supervised  to  see 
that  there  is  fair  play  and  fair  treatment.  By  having 
so  many  playgrounds,  and  by  dividing  the  players  into 
details,  a  good  degree  of  segregation  is  maintained  even 
in  a  congregate  system. 

The  School— This  is  a  most  important  feature,  for 
almost  if  not  quite  half  of  the  boys  sent  to  the  Pro 
tectory  are  upon  their  arrival  unable  to  read  or  write. 
They  come  from  the  more  squalid  sections  of  New  York 
and  have  been  almost  wholly  neglected,  and  every 
effort  is  made  to  interest  them  in  the  common  branches. 
By  dividing  the  time  between  study,  play  and  indus 
trial  effort  fatigue  is  prevented  in  any  department  and 
interest  is  the  more  easily  stimulated  and  maintained. 
These  Christian  Brothers  are  indeed  very  close  to  the 
elemental  problem  of  primitive  humanity,  and  the  at 
mosphere  seemed  to  me  to  be  one  of  intelligent  and 
enduring  effort  if  not  exactly  of  a  buoyant  and  bound 
less  enthusiasm.  The  belief  in  an  innate  depravity 
seems  to  detract  something  from  the  spirit  of  hopeful 
ness  with  which  those  who  do  not  share  that  belief  are 
able  to  sustain  themselves. 


58  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

Industrial  Training— I  don't  know  how  many  trades, 
or  parts  of  trades,  are  taught  at  the  Catholic  Protectory, 
but  certainly  a  good  many.  The  institution  is  neither 
a  factory  nor  a  trade  school,  strictly  speaking,  but  the 
management  manages  to  get  about  two  hours  of  deft 
finger  work  out  of  each  of  its  inmates  in  the  course  of 
each  working  day.  Those  who  remain  long  enough 
get  well  on  toward  a  completed  apprenticeship,  and 
those  who  do  not  at  least  learn  to  handle  themselves 
and  learn  how  to  do  some  useful  thing  fairly  well.  At 
any  rate  the  lads  become  habituated  to  the  idea  that 
this  is  a  world  of  work,  and  most  of  them  become  recon 
ciled  to  it. 

American  Sloyd — This  is  a  leading  feature  in  the 
education  of  a  good  portion  of  the  boys,  and  not  a  few 
of  them  discover  themselves  wrhile  in  that  department. 
I  was  not  so  favorably  impressed  with  the  models  used, 
or  with  their  progressive  character,  but  methods  are 
not  so  important  as  results,  and  of  the  results  there 
can  be  no  question.  As  stated  above,  many  a  lad  has 
found  himself  there. 

Domestic  Art  and  Science — The  sisters  are  doing 
fully  as  much  for  the  girls  as  the  brothers  are  for  the 
boys.  They  have  good  cooking  and  sewing  schools. 
and  plenty  of  housekeeping  to  keep  the  girls  busy  when 
they  are  not  at  their  studies  or  taking  their  religious 
instruction,  a  regular  feature  in  both  departments. 

Music — Instrumental  music  and,  I  believe,  vocal  also, 
are  given  good  places  in  the  course  of  instruction,  and 
a  fine  band  and  orchestra  are  maintained.  One  secret 
of  reforming  a  bad  child  is  to  find  out  if  possible  what 
good  thing  that  child  likes  to  do,  and  then  use  that  as 
a  handle  with  which  to  lay  hold  of  the  rest  of  the  child. 
I  think  that  the  Catholic  brothers  and  sisters  have 
grasped  this  idea  more  fully  than  many  Protestant 
workers  in  the  same  cause.  It  is  a  valuable  and  tactful 
aid. 


CATHOLIC   PROTECTORY   AT    WESTCHESTER.  59 

* 

Institutionalization— Rather  more,  on  the  whole,  is 
made  of  the  quality  of  institutionalization  than  the  facts 
warrant,  but  there  is  such  a  thing.  It  is  not  wholly 
bad  or  wholly  good,  but  a  little  of  it  can  not  be  very 
bad  and  may  be  very  good.  In  the  cases  of  these  boys 
and  girls  from  the  slums  of  New  York  it  is  about  their 
first  need.  They  have  been  individualized  to  the  point 
of  savagery.  To  round  them  up  and  band  them  to 
gether  under  company  discipline  is  what  they  need 
most,  and  if  they  are  not  too  long  under  that  system 
they  will  gain  much  good  and  little  evil  from  it.  It  will 
change  them  from  anti-social  to  more  or  less  social 
beings,  and  the  older  ones  rarely  remain  longer  than  a 
year,  or  at  most  two  years,  at  the  Protectory.  This  stay 
under  such  conditions  can  not  hurt  them. 

Paroled  and  Placed  Out— Nearly  all  the  boys  have 
relatives  willing  enough  to  take  them  back  and  find 
homes  for  them  when  they  are  big  enough  to  work,  have 
been  weaned  from  their  evil  practices  and  are  able  to 
earn  something,  so  most  of  the  discharges  are  to  rela 
tives.  But  there  remain  quite  a  number  for  whom 
homes  must  be  found,  and  this  work  is  done  by  Brother 
Barnabas,  whom  I  was  so  unfortunate  as  not  to  see.  He 
tries  to  place  his  charges  on  farms  out  in  the  state  of 
New  York,  but  those  who  are  not  fitted  for  this  are 
brought  into  the  city  and  work  found  for  them  there. 

St.  Philip's  Home— This  brings  me  to  this  institution, 
also  under  the  care  of  Brother  Barnabas,  who  has  fitted 
up  a  four-story  building  for  a  hotel  for  working  boys. 
It  is  made  as  homelike  as  possible,  with  a  chapel  and 
reading-rooms  and  comfortable  dormitories,  and  here 
he  tucks  the  recently  paroled  lads  under  his  fatherly 
wing  and  finds  work  for  them  and  keeps  in  touch  with 
them  until  they  have  risen  high  enough  on  the  indus 
trial  ladder  to  become  fully  self-sustaining,  when  they 
must  give  place  to  more  recruits  on  the  waiting  list. 


()()  INSTITUTIONAL    IAFK. 

Looking  for  a  Farm— The  plant  at  Westchester  is 
too  great  to  be  cast  aside.  The  improvements  on  the 
ground  cost  $1,500,000.  Nevertheless,  the  directors  are 
looking  for  a  farm,  which  can  be  used  as  an  auxiliary 
if  not  as  a  substitute  for  the  Protectory  as  it  now  is. 
I  think  that  if  they  could  find  something  like  Father 
Crowley's  farm  at  Rutherford  it  would  be  about  what 
they  are  looking  for,  but  where  outside  of  California 
can  such  a  property  as  that  be  found? 


CHAPTER  XYIL 
THE  DEPENDENT  CHILD. 

In  the  final  analysis  the  state  is  the  ultimate  guar 
dian  of  every  child  in  the  state.  In  fact,  the  state  is  the 
ultimate  guardian  of  every  person  in  the  state,  old  or 
young.  The  state  may  take  any  of  us  and  put  us  into 
its  army  to  be  shot  at  or  wherever  it  has  use  for  us. 
The  individual  exists  for  the  whole  as' he  does  also  for 
the  existence  of  the  species.  As  a  matter  of  sound 
policy,  therefore,  society  permits  parents  to  enjoy  their 
own  children  and  be  responsible  for  them,  as  it  also 
permits  individuals  to  enjoy  individual  liberty  of 
going  and  coming,  planning  and  doing,  but  if  an  occa 
sion  arises  where  state  authority  must  interfere  in 
order  to  preserve  its  own  welfare  the  right  to  do  so  can 
not  be  questioned. 

Now  with  this  right  of  a  state  goes  the  duty  on  the 
part  of  the  state  to  exercise  that  right  when  the  com 
mon  welfare  requires  it.  These  conclusions  are  ele 
mental,  and  it  would  be  a  good  thing  if  they  were  to  so 
sink  into  the  public  consciousness  as  to  be  productive 
of  many  good  things  to  children  whose  parents  neglect 
or  inadequately  provide  for  and  educate  them.  Many 
parents  suppose  that  their  children  are  their  own  to  do 
what  they  are  of  a  mind  to  with,  and  that  it  is  nobody's 
business  but  their  own  what  they  do  with  them.  They 
are  mistaken.  It  is  everybody's  business. 


THE   DEPENDENT   CHILD.  61 

What  Is  a  Dependent  Child?— A  dependent  child  is 
one  who  has  no  proper  person  to  take  proper  care  of  it. 
California  recognizes  only  three  classes  of  these  as 
being  entitled  to"  state  protection — the_whole  . prph an , 
^e  half  orphan  and  the  abandoned  child.  This  leayes 


the  halt'  orpii 

quite  a  number  to  be  looked  ont  for  as  best  the^jn ay 
be,  without  state  interest  being  manifested.  Most  east 
ern  states  make  no  such  distinctions.  They  regard  any 
child  as  a  proper  subject  for  state  care  if  it  be  in  fact 
dependent,  no  matter  what  the  cause  of  dependency. 
There  are  children  with  both  parents  living  who  are 
just  as  dependent  as  other  children  who  have  no  parents 
living.  Parents  who  are  of  no  account  are  no  betten 
than  dead  parents. 

Indeterminate  Dependency— Dependency  is  not  often 
complete  and  permanent.  Even  a  whole  orphan  gen 
erally  has  relatives  who  will  lay  claim  to  it  when  it  is 
old  enough  to  have  an  earning  capacity,  but  who  do 
not  want  to  be  burdened  with  it  so  long  as  it  is  a 
burden.  Some  states  compel  grandparents,  brothers 
and  sisters  to  take  care  of  dependent  children  by  suits 
at  law.  This  policy  greatly  lightens  the  public  burden, 
but  leaves  the  welfare  of  the  child  open  to  serious 
question.  The  unwelcome  child  is  not  likely  to  be  a 
coddled  child,  and  any  policy  that  does  not  look  first 
of  all  to  the  welfare  of  the  child  is  not  a  true  policy. 

The  Half  Orphan— Then,  there  are  many  dependent 
children  who  require  to  be  tided  over  a  period  of  ad 
versity  until  a  surviving  parent  can  develop  an  earn 
ing  capacity  sufficient  to  warrant  the  reassumption  of 
parental  obligation.  This  is  the  case  with  the  larger 
part  of  the  children  whom  the  State  of  California  is 
helping  to  support.  In  no  case  should  this  support  be 
extended  after  the  surviving  parent  has  become  able 
to  support  such  child,  but  it  is  through  the  abuse  of  this 
right  of  the  child  that  California  is  put  to  its  heaviest 
expense.  Indigeney  should  be  the  basis  of  state  aid  in 
all  cases  where  parents  are  morally  fit  to  Vmvp 


62  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

of  their  children.  Where  they  are  not  their  children 
should  be  taken  from  them  utterly — after  exhaustion 
of  a  probationary  interval.  Many  a  delinquent  parent 
has  been  redeemed  to  right  living-  through  a  threatened 
deprivation  of  children. 

The  Abandoned  Child— California  suffers  great  im 
position  through-  a  too  liberal  construction  of  the  term 
"abandoned  child."  It  has  probably  sustained  thou 
sands  of  children  during  past  years  who  were  in  no 
proper  sense  abandoned,  but  only  shirked.  They  were 
sent  to  orphanages  to  be  cared  for  when  little,  but 
were  reclaimed  as  soon  as  big  enough  to  have  an  earn 
ing  capacity. 

The  word  "abandoned"  in  its  legal  sense  is  pre 
cisely  wThat  its  meaning  is  as  given  in  the  dictionary. 
It  is  a  child  whose  unnatural  parents  have  gone  off 
and  left  it  for  a  period  of  one  year  without  making  pro 
vision  for  its  support,  If  they  have  done  this  they  have 
lost  all  legal  claim  to  and  right  over  the  child  and 
should  be  permitted  to  have  no  more  to  do  with  it 
than  with  the  child  of  a  stranger,  but  lack  of  a  judicial 
determination  of  the  fact  of  abandonment,  and  a  sys- 
temless  system  of  discharging  the  state's  duty  to  the 
child,  have  permitted  unnatural  and  irresponsible  par 
ents  to  reclaim  children  whose  support  they  had 
abandoned. 

Obliging  orphanages  have  received  visits,  and  small 
contributions,  at  intervals,  from  parents  of  children 
whom  they  have  steadily  reported  to  the  state  as  aban 
doned  and  for  whose  support  they  have  unhesitatingly 
drawn  $75  per  year  each  from  the  state  treasury.  By 
this  means,  mendicancy  has  been  promoted  and  the 
state  mulcted  to  the  extent  of  tens  of  thousands  of  dol 
lars  since  the  present  method  of  extending  state  aid  to 
dependent  childhood  was  put  into  operation.  The  only 
complete  remedy  for  this  abuse1  which  has  beeri^the 
result  of  lax  methods  and  not  of  deliberate  intenl_to 
defraud,  lies  in  having  the  fact  of  dependency  iudieiftlly 
established. 


THE  DEPENDENT   CHILD.  I). 

Dependency  Judicially  Determined— In  most  easteri 
states  the  fact  of  dependency  is  judicially  establishec 
if  the  state  is  to  bear  any  part  of  the  cost  of  maintain 
ing  a  dependent  child.  If  the  local  town,  or  townshij 
as  we  would  call  it,  is  to  bear  the  cost  the  selectmei 
may  determine  the  fact  of  dependency,  or  if  the  count} 
is  to  do  it,  then  the  supervisors  of  such  county,  or  els< 
the  superintendent  of  the  poor,  may  make  the  investi 
gation  and  determine  the  fact.  In  all  cases,  I  think,  th< 
body  politic  and  corporate  that  is  to  bear  the  expense 
determines  the  fact  of  dependency,  the  court  repre 
senting  the  interests  of  the  commonwealth. 

In  California  it  is  different.  The  forty-four  orphan 
ages  practically  determine  the  fact  of  dependency  fo 
those  for  whom  they  care,  and  the  boards  of  super 
visors  of  the  several  counties  determine  the  fact  fo 
those  to  whom  they  grant  outside  relief,  passing  the 
bill  up  to  the  state  to  be  repaid.  This  system  does  no 
conduce  to  economy  or  equality  in  the  disposition  o 
the  state  dependent  children's  fund,  and  there  is  neec 
for  a  judicial  determination  of  all  dependency  fo 
whose  relief  the  state  treasury  is  to  be  drawn  upon 
The  present  system  tends  to  create  more  mendicanc; 
than  can  be  remedied  b  state  bount. 


Law  Liberally  Construed— The  State  Board  of 
aminers,  which  audits  the  claims  made  against  the 
State  Dependent  Child  Fund,  has  been  humanely  liberal 
in  its  interpretation  of  the  law.  For  instance,  it  has 
classed  as  half  orphans  children  in  indigent  circum 
stances  one  of  whose  parents  is  confined  in  one  of  the 
state's  prisons  or  asylums  for  the  insane  during  such 
confinement.  There  may  not  be  any  specific  law  foi 
this,  but  the  necessities  of  children  have  seemed  to 
require  it  and  in  allowing  it  the  quality  of  mercy  ha* 
not  been  strained. 

Extend  the  Juvenile  Court  System— California  has 
an  excellent  juvenile  court  system,  on  paper,  and  it  is 
working  admirably  in  fact  where  adequate  machinery 

<X 


(U  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE.    ' 

is  supplied  for  making  it  effective,  but,  as  is  the  case 
in  many  other  instances,  the  state  falls  short,  if  it  does 
not  fall  down,  in  the  attempt  to  execute  its  own  laws. 
Under  the  juvenile  court  law  as  it  stands  Los  Angeles 
is  the  only  county  supplied  with  a  probation  officer 
paid  from  the  public  treasury  to  aid  the  juvenile  court 
in  carrying  into  effect  the  laws  regarding  juvenile 
dependents  and  delinquents,  whereas  every  county  in 
the  state  needs  the  services  of  a  probation  officer  and 
most  counties  need  to  have  their  probation  officers  paid. 

In  order  to  make  the  juvenile  court  law  effective 
there  is  a  deal  of  work  for  a  probation  officer  to  do— 
much  more  work  than  citizens  generally  can  afford  to 
perform  without  being  compensated  reasonably  for  the 
time  devoted  to  that  most  important  service.  The 
present  method  of  selecting  probation  officers  insures 
that  such  selection  shall  be  kept  entirely  outside  of 
political  influence.  All  that  is  required  is  to  make 
provision  for  paying  the  probation  officers,  such  a  sum 
as  shall  be  reasonable  under  the  circumstances  con 
trolling  the  work  in  each  county,  to  put  California  on 
a  parity  with  any  state  in  the  Union  with  regard  to  its 
care  for  dependent  and  delinquent  childhood. 

Were  the  fact  of  dependency  established  by  the 
juvenile  court,  sitting  only  as  a  juvenile  court  as  the 
law  specifically  provides,  and  by  and  with  the  aid  of  the 
probation  officer  charged  with  the  duty  of  making  all 
needed  investigations  into  essential  facts  for  the  wise 
guidance  of  the  court,  no  taint  of  pauperism  need 
attach  to  the  child  beyond  what  is  inseparable  from 
every  case  of  public  aid  extended  to  private  persons. 
The  court  will  sit  as  the  state's  authorized  guardian 
of  every  child  found  in  need  of  protection  by  the 
sheltering  arms  of  the  state,  and  the  probation  officer 
will  be  the  instrument  of  the  juvenile  court  for  carry 
ing  out  the  directions  of  the  guardian  regarding  the 
care  of  the  state's  dependent  wards.  It  will  be  a 
parental  rather  than  a  judicial  relation  subsisting 
between  court  and  child  and  splendidly  calculated  to 


WHAT  CALIFORNIA  IS  DOING.  ()f> 

save  the  child  from  harm  and  the  commonwealth  from 
imposition. 

It  is  not  so  much  more  law  that  California  needs  in/ 
this  particular  as  greater  efficiency  in  putting  the  Iaw| 
into  execution. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

WHAT  CALIFORNIA  IS  DOING  FOR  DEPENDENT 
CHILDREN. 

There  is  a  prevailing  impression  that  dependent 
childhood  costs  California  a  great  deal  more  in  propor 
tion  to  population  than  it  costs  other  states.  It  does 
cost  the  state  more,  but  it  probably  costs  the  taxpayers 
less.  In  California  dependent  childhood  is  mainly  a 
state  problem,  as  it  should  be.  In  most  eastern  states 
it  is  a  problem  that  confronts  the  taxpayer  at  every 
turn  through  township,  county,  city  and  state.  I  found 
no  eastern  state  that  cares  for  what  children  are  cared 
for  by  the  state  as  cheaply  per  child  as  California  cares 
for  her  dependent  children. 

State  care  is  preferable  to  township  or  county  care, 
because  the  interests  of  the  child  are  better  protected. 
The  dollar  held  up  immediately  before  the  eye  of  the 
local  taxpayer  prevents  his  looking  adown  the  vista 
of  time  and  seeing  the  future  of  the  child  as  a  public 
problem.  Per  contra,  a  State  Board  of  Charities  and 
Corrections,  to  whose  charge  this  problem  is  in  the 
East  mainly  entrusted,  remembers  that  the  criminal 
of  the  future  is  the  child  of  to-day,  and  so  concerns 
itself  with  the  ultimate  consequences  of  a  care-taking 
policy  more  than  with  the  dollar  of  immediate  cost. 

Number  of  Children  Cared  For— For  the  fiscal  year 
ending  June  30,  1905,  there  were  7301  children  who 
received  state  aid  at  some  time  during  the  year.     Of 
\these,   5283  were  being  maintained  in   the  forty-four 
existing  orphanages  and  2018  were  aided  through  the 


66  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

boards  of  supervisors  of  the  several  counties.  It  is 
worth  while  to  note  that  the  forty-four  orphanages 
together  maintained  1230  other  children  for  whose  care 
they  received  no  state  aid  whatever. 

Cost  to  the  Orphanages— From  the  best  figures  that 
the  State  Board  of  Examiners  could  obtain  from  reports 
made  to  them  the  average  cost  to  the  institutions 
maintaining  these  children,  for  the  half  year  endipg 
June  30,  1905,  was  $53.05  per  child.  The  state's 
average  share  of  this  burden  was  $32.57  per  child. 
Of  course  some  orphanages  maintain  a  higher  standard 
of  living  than  others,  but  it  may  be  doubted  if  any 
orphanage  in  California  receives  more  from  the  state 
than  is  required  for  the  immediate  care  and  feeding 
of  the  children  in  its  charge.  The  conducting  of  an 
orphanage  can  not,  so  far  as  state  aid  is  concerned, 
be  regarded  as  a  gainful  pursuit.  If  there  be  profit  in 
it  it  must  be  because  of  the  opportunity  offered  for 
soliciting  funds  outside.  A  better  degree  of  state  super 
vision  would  prevent  this  abuse,  as  the  exactions  of  a 
charities  indorsement  committee  in  San  Francisco  have 
already  shut  out  -some  such  candidates  for  charities. 
The  benevolent  public  needs  protection  from  imposi 
tion,  but  I  do  not  know  any  one  of  the  forty-four 
existing  orphanages  that  has  not  a  bona  fide  need  for 
aid  far  beyond  that  extended  by  the  state. 

The  Help  Employed — There  were  519  persons  em 
ployed  at  some  time  during  the  year  in  the  care  of  the 
children  mentioned  in  the  paragraph  next  but  one 
above,  besides  198  other  persons  who  gave  their  time 
and  labor  without  recompense.  The  total  salaries 'paid 
during  the  half  year  amounted  to  $87,119.66,  or  about 
$28  per  month  each.  The  ratio  on  paper  is  one  care 
taker  to  each  nine  children,  but  this  includes  all  manner 
of  workers,  including  care  of  land  and  garden,  many 
of  whom  were  on  the  payroll  for  a  short  time  only. 
The  real  ratio  of  care-takers  to  children  would  come 
nearer  being  one  to  fifteen. 


WHAT   CALIFORNIA    IS    DOING.  (17 

What  They  Cost  the  State— For  the  fiscal  year  ending 
June  30,  1905,  the  State  Treasurer  cashed  warrants 
issued  to  the  forty-four  orphanages  in  the  aggregate 
sum  of  $337,459.07.  The  further  sum  of  $96,242.34  was 
paid  to  the  several  counties  of  the  state  for  the  support 
of  children  aided  in  the  homes  of  their  surviving  par 
ents.  This  makes  a  grand  total  of  $433,701.41  as  the 
annual  expense  of  dependent  childhood  to  the  tax 
payers  of  California. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  sum  above  mentioned 
as  having  been  paid  to  the  forty-four  orphanages 
($337,459.07)  is,  on  an  average,  about  $30,000  less  than 
has  been  annually  paid  to  them  during  a  number  of 
years  previous  to  the  incoming  of  the  present  state 
administration.  A  closer  surveillance,  and  a  somewhat 
more  strict  interpretation  of  the  law,  have  resulted  in 
important  economies  without  inflicting  hardship  upon 
any  child  entitled  by  law  to  state  aid. 

There  is,  however,  a  tendency  for  the  outside  aid 
extended  through  boards  of  supervisors  to  increase  in 
numbers  of  children  aided  and  expense  passed  up  to 
the  state  for  reimbursement.  This  aid  in  the  home  of 
the  surviving  and  worthy  parent  is  the  best  form  of  aid 
that  can  be  extended,  but  whatever  aid  is  extended  in 
such  cases  should  be  based  on  the  principle  of  "as  much 
as  is  needed  and  no  more,  as  long  as  needed  and  no 
longer,"  for  the  prevention  of  hardship  to  the  child. 

Again,  a  judicial  determination  of  the  fact  of  de 
pendency,  and  a  judicial  fixing  of  the  degree  of  de 
pendency  also,  would  work  hardship  to  no  one  and 
prove  a  just  economy  to  the  state.  It  is  not  the  state 
policy  regarding  dependent  childhood  that  needs  to  be 
reformed  so  much  as  the  method  of  executing  that, 
policy. 

The  California  Idea— Whatever  else  may  be  said  in 
criticism  of  the  California  policy  of  caring  for  depend 
ent  children  it  can  not  be  charged  with  the  inhumanity 
of  breaking  up  and  scattering  to  the  four  winds  of 


68  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

heaven  the  children  of  dependent  parents  who  have 
committed  no  offense  other  than  that  of  poverty.  In 
most  of  the  states  of  the  east  that  I  visited  this  is  done 
in  the  interests  of  economy,  but  not  in  the  interests 
of  humanity.  Eastern  states  in  general  say  to  the 
widowed  mother,  in  effect,  "Very  well,  madam,  if  you 
can  not  support  your  children  we  will  take  them  from 
you  and  parcel  them  out  to  persons  who  can  support 
them,  but  they  will  be  no  longer  your  children.  They 
will  be  adopted  by  others  and  will  become  their  chil 
dren  as  much  as  though  they  had  been  born  to  them." 

California  says  to  such  an  unfortunate  woman, 
"Madam,  the  state  sympathizes  with  you  in  your  dis 
tress  and  is  ready  and  willing  to  help  you  reasonably. 
You  may  place  your  children  in  the  orphanage  of  your 
choice  and  leave  them  there,  visiting  them  meantime 
on  proper  occasions,  until  you  can  develop  an  earning 
capacity  which  will  enable  you  to  get  them  under  a 
roof  of  your  own  providing.  Or  you  may  remain  under 
your  own  roof,  if  you  have  one,  .and  through  your  local 
board  of  supervisors  receive  as  much  state  aid  for  the 
support  of  your  half-orphan  children  as  you  need  and 
no  more,  provided  that  it  does  not  exceed  $75  per  year, 
and  you  may  receive  that  aid  as  long  as  you  need  it, 
but  no  longer.  You  may  thus  keep  your  family  to 
gether  without  grave  hardship  and  your  children  shall 
belong  to  you  and  not  be  given  to  a  stranger." 

The  heart  of  California  is  right,  and  it  is  better  that 
it  submit  to  some  imposition  than  that,  in  the  name  of 
fiscal  economy,  it  steel  its  heart  against  the  fundamental 
promptings  of  parental  affection. 

Where  Economies  are  Possible— The  writer  ventures 
the  estimate,  more  from  results  of  observation  and  in 
quiry  than  from  statistical  or  other  information  ob 
tainable,  that  as  many  as  one-fifth  of  the  state-aided 
children  would  be  taken  off  the  list  under  a  system  of 
judicial  determination  of  the  fact  of  dependency  such 
as  was  suggested  in  the  previous  chapter.  The  juvenile 


THE  FOUNDLING.  > 

court,  aided  by  the  efforts  of  a  paid  probation  officer, 
would  be  able  so  to  enforce  parental  responsibility  that 
one-fifth  of  the  children  now  hustled  off  to  orphanages, 
or  put  on  the  indigent  list  by  supervisors,  would  be 
supported  in  their  own  homes  and  sent  to  school.  This 
would  save  California  somewhere  between  $75,000  and 
$100,000  a  year,  and  the  children,  the  orphanages,  and 
the  delinquent  or  careless  parents  themselves,  would 
be  the  better  for  the  efficient  practice  of  this  economy. 
Another  economy  of  equal  importance  will  be  sug 
gested  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  Placing  Out. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
THE  FOUNDLING. 

It  makes  a  world  of  difference  whether  or  not  one's 
point  of  view  of  a  social  problem  be  at  its  vortex  or 
out  on  the  circumference.  To  the  matron  in  charge 
of  a  lying-in  hospital  in  a  great  city  it  looks  as 
though  chastity  were  unknown  and  fidelity  to  the 
marriage  relation  were  an  iridescent  dream.  Such 
an  one  forgets  that  of  every  hundred  persons  who 
enter  the  holy  bonds  of  matrimony,  for  better  or  worse, 
a  vast  majority  hold  themselves  sacred  to  their  mar 
riage  vows  until  separated  by  death.  So,  also,  it  is 
about  as  hard  for  those  upon  the  outer  edge  of  the 
problem  of  social  purity  to  comprehend  the  stupendous 
problem  of  illegitimacy  as  seen  at  the  vortex.  It  is  a 
very  real  problem  and  one  whose  consideration  society 
should  not  shun.  Illegitimacy,  in  America,  may  not 
assume  startling  proportions  when  expressed  in  com 
parative  percentages,  but,  when  compared  with  the 
intelligent  provision  made  for  it  it  becomes  a  very 
serious  problem  and  seems  likely  to  continue  to  be  so! 
The  elemental  promptings  of  sex  emotion  are  likely 
to  go  on  producing  their  illegitimate  results  to  the 
end  of  time. 


70  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

A  Few  Fallacies  Dispelled— It  is  commonly  supposed 
that  illegitimate  children,  mainly  classed  as  "found 
lings"  when  they  come  into  public  custody,  are  badly 
born,  likely  to  be  diseased,  and  better  off  dead  than 
alive.  This  is  exceptionally,  but  not  at  all  generally, 
true.  Some  there  are  who  come  into  the  world  diseased 
beyond  redemption,  and  most  of  these  do  die,  in  spite 
of  all  that  can  be  done  for  them,  within  the  first  six 
months  of  their  lives,  but  by  far  the  greater  number  of 
foundlings  are  as  healthy  as  other  children.  The  women 
of  the  redlight  districts  are  mainly  sterile  and  add  few 
to  the  ranks  of  illegitimacy.  Nor  are  these  babes  the 
product  of  the  baser  forms  of  criminality,  which  are 
not  so  much  given  to  seduction  as  to  patronage  of 
brothels. 

The  stream  of  foundlings  pours  out  of  the  homes  of 
the  people,  their  mothers  being,  for  the  most  part, 
giddy,  untrained  girls  still  in  their  "teens,"  and  their 
fathers  either  youths  of  their  own  age  or,  more  often, 
employers,  men  writh  families,  men  of  mature  physique 
but  with  crippled  consciences.  Not  a  few  are  really 
love  children,  born  outside  of  wedlock,  but  inside  of 
a  real  and  true  affection  which  some  barrier  prevents 
culminating  in  marriage.  If  given  a  good  start  these 
little  people,  who  are  not  at  all  to  blame  for  their 
unconventional  advent,  develop  into  surprisingly 
beautiful  and  intelligent  children.  Is  it  necessary  to 
social  preservation  that  they  must  ever  walk  in  the 
shadow  of  the  sin  of  parents  to  them  unknown  ? 

Mortality  Among  Foundlings— The  social  problem  of 
t/he  disposition  of  foundlings  has,  so  far  as  it  became 
related  to  institutional  life,  been  well  nigh  eliminated 
by  the  atrocious  percentages  of  mortality.  Tewksbury 
'  almshouse  in  Massachusetts  lost  98  per  cent  of  these 
little  people  year  afte^  year,  and  yet  science  and 
nursing  did  about  as  well  as  it  knew  how  to  preserve 
them  alive.  The  best  foundling  hospitals  in  the  east 
have,  until  recent  years,  lost  85  to  90  per  cent  of  their 


THE  FOUNDLING.  71 

charges.  The  asylums  in  San  Francisco  have  lost 
somewhere  between  50  and  75  per  cent,  and  are  still 
losing  nearly  as  many.  Those  in  charge  do  the  best 
they  can  under  the  circumstances,  but  the  circumstances 
have  110  business  to  be  what  they  are  and  have  been. 
Circumstances  have  been  guilty  of  nothing  less  than 
manslaughter  and  they  have  been  clearly  remediable. 
Babies  simply  can  not  be  brought  up  on  bottles, 
iherded  together  in  groups  of  ten  or  a  dozen,  and  with  no 
more  individual  attention  than  consists  in  being  given 
the  bottle  at  stated  intervals  and  having  their  diapers 
hanged.  A  baby  suffered  to  lie  on  its  back  hour  after 
hour  and  day  after  day  without  being  taken  in  arms, 
talked  to  and  moved  about,  will  die  or,  if  it  survive, 
will  be  as  stupid  as  a  knot  on  a  log.  The  intelligence 
of  the  human  race  is  dependent  upon  the  start  which 
a  mother's  tireless  baby  talk  and  chuckling  afford. 

The  Law  at  Fault— The  California  statute  in  such 
cases  made  and  provided  allows  $12.50  per  month  for 
the  maintenance  of  every  foundling  maintained  "in" 
an  institution  during  the  first  eighteen  months  of  its 
life.  But  if  it  be  maintained  in  an  institution  it  is 
likely  to  die.  The  present  State  Board  of  Examiners 
has  graciously  construed  that  word  "in"  to  mean  "by" 
until  such  time  as  the  legislature  can  change  it  so  as 
to  permit  of  these  little  people  being  boarded  out,  not 
more  than  twro  in  a  place,  with  motherly  women  who 
have  had  experience  in  bringing  up  babies,  to  be 
watched  and  cared  for  by  the  physician  attending  upon 
the  institution.  -This  is  a  good  way  of  taking  care  of 
foundlings  until  they  have  reached  the  age  when  they 
can  eat  soft  foods  and  are  no  longer  dependent  upon 
bottles  that,  very  likely,  are  supplied  with  drugged 
milk  that  some  assassin  of  a  milk-dealer  has  provided. 
Massachusetts  now  boards  out  all  of  its  foundlings, 
but  the  mortality  is  still  great  where  the  bottle  must 
be  depended  on. 


INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

Mothers'  Milk  the  True  Elixir  of  Life— It  has  been 
found,  however,  that  the  only  sure  way  to  get  the 
foundling  over  the  first  six  months  of  its  life,  the 
rucial  period,  is  to  give  it  the  breast.  In  the  lying-in 
hospitals  this  is  attained  partly  by  requiring  mothers 
about  to  be  confined  to  agree  to  remain  a  year,  if 
possible,  and  those  who  are  strong  enough  are  required 
to  nurse  another  baby  besides  their  own,  giving  each 
one  side  of  the  breast  and  supplementing  with  one  or 
more  milk  feeds  for  both  babies  each  day.  This  works 
admirably  so  far  as  that  source  of  supply  can  be  made 
to  go,  but  it  does  not  go  far  enough  to  cover  all  of 
the  basket  babies  left  at  the  doors  of  these  institutions. 

Italian  Women  to  the  Rescue— The  heavy  work  that 
used  to  be  done  by  Irishmen  in  this  country,  such  as 
sewer  construction  and  railroad  building  and  street 
work,  is  now  being  done  mainly  by  Italians.  These 
Italian  workmen  are  frequently  if  not  always  accom 
panied  to  this  country  by  their  wives.  Through  a  most 
unfortunate  superstition  many  of  these  Italian  women 
will  not  employ  physicians  during  confinement,  but 
trust  to  the  unskilled  offices  of  ignorant  old  midwives 
who  deliver  something  like  two-fifths  of  the  infants  of 
these  working-class  women  stillborn.  The  discovery 
of  this  fact  has,  in  New  York  city,  resulted  in  the 
developing  of  a  remunerative  and  thoroughly  humane 
system  of  putting  foundlings  out  to  be  nursed  by  these 
unfortunate  mothers.  They  receive  $8  to  $10  per  month 
and,  no  matter  how  lowly  may  be  their  own  standard 
of  living,  their  babies  thrive.  These  women  live  on  a 
vegetable  diet,  their  milk  is  rich,  and,  even  in  a  squalid 
home,  the  baby  is  all  right.  Inasmuch  as  these  workers 
are  scattered  all  over  the  country  it  will  be  worth 
while  for  those  having  foundlings  in  their  charge  to 
exhaust  this  source  of  life  preservation  before  folding 
the  hands  in  the  comforting  assurance  that,  "The  Lord 
giveth  and  the  Lord  taketh  away." 


REMEDIABLE   DEFICIENCIES   OF    CHILDREN.  73 

CHAPTER  XX. 

REMEDIABLE  DEFICIENCIES  OF  CHILDREN. 

The  New  York  Foundling  Hospital  (Catholic)  is 
doing*  a  work  in  rectifying  the  remediable  defects  of 
childhood  that  all  the  world  should  copy.  It  has  the 
handling  of  perhaps  1500  illegitimate  and  foundling 
children  each  year,  and  instead  of  placing  them  out 
as  soon  as  possible,  in  whatever  condition  they  may  be, 
all  of  the  remediable  defects  of  childhood  are  remedied 
before  the  little  people  pass  from  under  thejr  custody. 
It  is  a  beautiful  work,  beautifully  done,  with  the  result 
that  they  have  many  hundreds  of  beautiful  children 
to  be  placed  in  approved  homes. 

To  do  this  a  hospital  is  maintained  which  has  at  its 
disposal  some  of  the  best  surgical  skill  the  great  city 
can  supply.  Bow  legs  and  knock-knees  are  made 
straight  by  breaking  and  resetting.  Crossed  eyes  are 
coaxed  back  into  line  with  spectacles  or,  if  too  crooked, 
are  straightened  by  an  operation.  Irregular  teeth  are, 
put  in  order,  adenoid  growths  are  removed  from  the 
air  passages,  and  all  things  possible  are  done  to  give 
their  little  charges  a  fair  chance  in  life's  race  for  the 
best  places.  I  want  everybody's  children  as  well  looked 
out  for  as  nobody's  children.  The  thing  is  possible  and 
practical. 

The  Handicap  of  Infirmity— There  is  no  handicap  to 
carry  through  life  like  the  consciousness  of  inferiority. 
It  discounts  all  the  opportunities  of  life  from  the  start. 
More  than  this,  it  lays  the  foundation  for  a  life  of  crim 
inality.  Professor  Frank  Lydston  in  his  "Diseases  of 
Society"  declares:  "The  nearer  we  get  to  the  marrow 
of  criminality,  the  more  closely  it  approximates  pathol 
ogy.  The  questions  of  physique,  education  and  sur-' 
roundings  of  children  are  the  warp  and  woof  of  the 
fabric  of  the  prevention  of  crime.  The  child  criminal 
is  something  of  which  civilization  should  be  ashamed." 
4 


74  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

Of  100  children  received  at  the  New  York  Juvenile 
Asylum,  94  had  defective  teeth,  15  of  these  had  teeth 
that  were  in  process  of  decay  and  one  boy  had  already 
lost  four  teeth.  Now  the  condition  of  the  teeth  has  an 
influence  upon  the  behavior,  if  not  upon  the  actual 
criminality,  of  the  child.  Defective  teeth  cause  fer 
mentation,  inability  to  grind  the  food  properly  causes 
indigestion,  indigestion  causes  malnutrition,  and  mal 
nutrition  is  the  greatest  known  cause  of  criminality 
among  children  because  it  leaves  their  brains  as  de 
fective  as  their  bodies.  Of  1000  delinquent  children 
examined  by  this  institution  65  per  cent  were  found 
to  be  suffering  from  malnutrition.  A  weakened  brain 
is  attended  with  a  weakened  conscience  and  a  weakened 
understanding  of  the  consequences  of  conduct. 

The  Remedy — The  children  in  the  institutions  of 
California  are  inadequately  safeguarded  against  those 
remediable  deficiencies  which  are  so  likely  to  fasten 
upon  childhood,  but  so  are  the  children  outside  of  insti 
tutional  life.  Their  welfare  is  of  concern  to  the  state 
for  the  reason  that  the  defective  child  of  to-day  is  not 
unlikely  to  become  the  criminal  of  a  few  years  hence. 
It  would  be  profitable  for  some  department  of  state 
government,  perhaps  the  State  Board  of  Health,  to 
put  into  the  field  a  number  of  skilled  diagnosticians  of 
diseases  common  to  childhood,  to  visit"  all  of  the  insti 
tutions  of  the  state  where  there  are  children,  including 
the  public  schools,  for  the  purpose  of  making  such 
examinations  as  may  be  required  and  informing  parents 
and  teachers  of  such  defects  as  may  exist,  with  direc 
tions  as  to  how  they  may  be  remedied.  The  ordinary 
practitioner  does  not  always  detect  defects  that  an 
expert  will  perceive  at  a  glance,  but  however  that  may 
be,  parents  are  wonderfully  blind  to  the  existence  of 
such  deficiencies.  So  much  of  this  work  as  is  educa 
tional  the  state  can  well  afford  to  do,  that  it  may  de 
crease  crime  and  pauperism  likely  otherwise  to  result 
later  in  life  from  disorders  which  will  have  come  to  be 


SOME    THINGS    ABOUT    ORPHANAGES.  75 

irremediable  handicaps  to  a  proper  physical  and  mental 
development. 

A  State  Hospital— At  least  Iowa,  Michigan  and 
Massachusetts  maintain  state  hospitals  for  remedying 
the  deficiencies  of  such  children  as  have  become  wards 
of  the  state,  and  every  child  whose  parents  are  pecun 
iarily  unable  to  send  a  defective  child  to  a  hospital 
should  become  a  ward  of  the  state  to  that  extent.  It 
would  not  be  very  costly  or  at  all  out  of  place  to  have 
such  a  hospital  connected  with  the  medical  department 
of  the  State  University.  It  would  not  need  to  be  a 
large  one  or  expensive  to  maintain,  and  it  might  easily 
be  able  to  pay  for  itself  over  and  over  again  every 
year  by  giving  the  defective  childhood  of  the  state  a 
chance  to  develop  into  a  well-nourished  and  symmetric 
ally  formed  manhood  and  womanhood. 

I  am  quite  sure  that  I  have  seen  more  mouth-breath 
ers  and  more  cross-eyed  children  in  some  single  orphan 
ages  in  California  than  I  have  seen  in  all  the  orphanages 
visited  throughout  the  east,  put  them  all  together. 
The  state  will  do  well  to  look  more  closely  to  its  own. 
Crime  and  pauperism  are  heavy  burdens,  and  are  more 
easily  lightened  at  the  start  than  at  the  finish. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
SOME  THINGS  ABOUT  ORPHANAGES. 

California  has  no  state  orphanage  and  there  is  only 
one  county  orphanage  in  the  state,  and  that  is  at 
Fresno.  The  other  forty-three  orphanages  are  benevo 
lent  institutions  created  and  controlled  either  by  some 
church  or  some  charitable  organization.  Fifteen  of  the 
orphanages,  and  quite  the  largest  ones,  are  owned  and 
controlled  by  the  Catholic  Church,  the  remainder  of  the 
forty-three  are  either  Protestant  or  belong  to  benevo 
lent  orders,  such  as  the  Odd  Fellows  or  the  Good 
Templars.  The  state  has  not  found  it  necessary  to 


/U  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

construct  and  maintain  any  orphanages  on  public 
account,  and  certain  it  is  that  it  could  not  undertake 
the  work  nearly  so  cheaply  as  it  is  done  now  and  it  is 
open  to  doubt  if  it  would  be  as  well  done,  as  under 
.existing  conditions. 

The  Proper  Function  of  an  Orphanage —There  are 
those  who  decry  orphanages  as  if  they  were  a  super 
fluity  for  which  society  has,  or  should  have,  no  use. 
Such  is  not  the  fact.  No  matter  how  far  the  systems 
of  placing  out  and  boarding  out  may  be  carried,  as  in 
Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania,  there  will  still  be  a 
large  percentage  of  dependent  children  who  must  be 
cared  for  in  an  orphanage  or  go  uncared  for  altogether. 
There  are  scores  of  such  institutions  in  Massachusetts 
and  Pennsylvania,  although  not  under  state  control 
or  receiving  state  aid.  They  perform  their  useful  serv 
ice  none  the  less. 

The  Highest  Use — The  highest  use  an  orphanage  can 
perform  is  to  take  care  of  the  children  of  the  worthy 
poor  until  they  can  tide  over  a  period  of  adversity  and 
get  once  more  upon  a  self-sustaining  basis.  This  is  the 
principal  service  that  the  orphanages  of  California  are 
performing.  x  I  have  not  reliable  statistics  from  Cali 
fornia  orphanages  covering  this  feature  of  their  work, 
but  of  the  40,000  children  which  the  Juvenile  Asylum  of 
New  York  has  cared  for  during  the  last  fifty  years 
33,000  went  back  to  their  own  families.  I  think  that 
this  percentage  will  hold  good  in  nearly  if  not  quite  all 
cases.  The  average  stay  of  a  half  orphan  in  a  Califor 
nia  orphanage,  as  nearly  as  I  can  approximate  it,  is 
between  two  and  three  years,  when  the  widowed  mother 
or  the  surviving  father  marries  again,  and  the  child 
is  again  taken  under  a  parental  roof.  This  is  a  work 
of  the  highest  benevolence  and,  for  the  most  part,  is 
performed  in  good  faith  and  with  credit  to  the  insti 
tutions  rendering  that  service. 


SOMK  THIM;S  ABOI:T  ORPHANAGES.  77 

/  Taking  Care  of  the  Unattractive— The  second  highest 
function  performed  by  orphanages  is  the  taking  care 
of  unattractive  children,  who  have  no  one  to  take  care 
of  them,  until  they  can  be  made  capable  of  taking  care 
of  themselves.i  State  aid  ceases  at  14,  the  most  vulner 
able  age  of  a  child's  life,  but  many  of  the  orphanages 
hold  on  to  their  charges  of  this  class  long  after  that 
and  until  they  can  be  placed  in  good  homes  at  wages. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  there  may  be  1000  unattractive 
children  being  cared  for  in  California  orphanages  at 
the  present  time. 

To  be  Straightened  Up— A  third  valuable  use  an 
orphanage  can  perform  for  the  public  is  to  receive 
children  from  the  streets,  untrained  and  in  poor  physi 
cal  condition,  and  rough-break  them,  as  they  say  of 
young  colts  only  partially  trained  to  harness,  remedy 
their  physical  defects  and  so  make  them  fit  to  be  placed 
in  homes  to  be  reared  as  own  children.  This  service 
is  being  performed  to  some  advantage  already,  but 
might  be  to  much  greater  if  some  of  the  suggestions 
made  in  the  preceding  chapter,  whereby  the  state  might 
aid  in  the  work,  were  put  into  effective  operation. 
They  need  help  011  the  medical  and  surgical  side  of  the 
question. 

Institutionalism— But  the  best  orphanage  that  ever 
was  is  not  as  good  a  place  for  the  rearing  of  a  child  as 
an  ordinarily  good  American  home.  The  best  the 
orphanage  people  can  do,  whether  their  institution 
be  conducted  under  the  congregate  or  the  cottage  plan, 
the  child  brought  up  in  an  institution  will  inevitably 
lose  much  that  goes  toward  the  making  of  an  inde 
pendent  and  self-reliant  personality.  The  child  will 
be  an  incubator  chicken  instead  of  a  chicken  that  the 
old  hen  has  raised.  Any  one  who  has  managed  an 
incubator  will  know  what  this  illustration  signifies. 
An  incubator  chicken  hasn't  a  "lick"  of  worldly  wis 
dom,  and  neither  has  the  institutional  child. 


78  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

A  Little  of  it  Good— A  little  of  institutionalism  is  not 
a  bad  thing,  especially  for  a  child  that  has  been  a  bit 
of  a  delinquent,  as  most  dependent  children  have  been. 
Having,  up  to  that  time,  been  excessively  individual 
istic,  a  few  months,  or  a  year  or  so,  of  communistic 
life  is  not  at  all  bad  for  them.  Besides,  if  the  march 
ing  and  the  uniform  were  subtracted  from  the  "insti 
tutionalism"  those  who  find  institutionalism  such  a 
bugaboo  would  b**  nm^.Ti  fit  PJLSP  The  marching^Js  the 
most  orderly,  and  quite  the  best,  method  of  going  and 
coming,  and  the  uniform  is  the  cheapest  way  of  dress 
ing,  andjias^  the  further  merit  ot  bemg~EFe  onost  equal 
and  therefore  affording  the  least  ground  for  suspected 
discriminations  and  consequent  heart-busings.  The 
real  objections  t.n  i n^t^ll tinnfl.1  ism  ]\?  fjppppr  than 
marchings  and  uniforms.  They^  lie  in  the  assimilation 
of  the  individual  to  the  mass. 

Benevolent  and  Malevolent  Assimilation— There  are 
these  two  kinds  of  assimilation.  The  bad  urchin 
brought  into  a  well-regulated  institution  of  reasonably 
good  children  does  not,  as  popularly  supposed,  imme 
diately  proceed  to  corrupt  the  mass.  He  is  assimilated 
to  it  and  not  it  to  him,  and  he  is  benefited;  but  the 
child  that  has  something  better  in  him  than  the  common 
herd  can  boast  is  also  assimilated,  and  malevolently. 
He  loses  the  greater  part  of  his  identity  and  power  of 
independent  self-direction  and  is  not  likely  ever  to 
regain  it  if  brought  to  maturity  in  such  an  institution. 

The  Cottage  Plan— The  cottage  system  of  maintain 
ing  orphanages  lessens  the  evils  of  institutionalism, 
but  can  not  wholly  overcome  them.  The  masses  are 
smaller  and  the  assimilations  less  complete.  The  masses 
are  also  graded  into  classes,  and  the  assimilations  are, 
accordingly,  to  the  class  rather  than  to  the  mass;  but 
the  best  that  can  be  done  does  not  more  than  approxi 
mate,  under  the  cottage  system,  the  condition  of  the 
home  where  children  see  more  of  adult  life,  and  are 


SOMK  ORPHANAGES  I  HAVE  SEEN.  79 

influenced   powerfully  by  it,   and  where   they  are   in 
evitably  thrown  more  upon  their  own  resources. 

The  Cottage  Plan  More  Costly— The  cottage  plan  of 
maintaining  an  orphanage  is  more  costly  than  the  con 
gregate  system,  because  of  the  increased  cost  of  superin 
tendence.  The  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum,  described 
in  a  chapter  devoted  to  it,  may  be  taken  as  the  best 
model  of  a  cottage  system  this  country  has  to  offer. 
There  the  per  capita  cost  per  year  is  $220.  The  con 
gregate  orphanages  of  California,  with  few  exceptions, 
get  on  for  half  that  money.  It  is  a  question  of  what 
can  be  afforded.  The  cottage  system  is  best,  but  it 
costs  most,  and  yet  the  more  costly  system  is  the 
cheaper  in  the  end  if  the  money  can  be  provided. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
SOME  ORPHANAGES  I  HAVE  SEEN. 

I  did  not  go  out  of  my  way  in  search  of  orphanages 
while  making  my  eastern  pilgrimage  for  the  study  of 
institutional  life,  but  I  think  that  I  saw  some  of  the 
better  types,  and  some  that  perhaps  had  as  much  to 
teach  California  as  any  others  that  I  might  have  found. 
Besides,  time  was  all  the  wrhile  pressing  hard. 

The  Iowa  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Orphans'  Home— This 
institution  grew  out  of  the  need  which  the  Civil  Wai- 
created  for  taking  care  of  the  children  of  the  soldiers 
and  sailors  who  had  given  their  lives  to  their  country. 
It  is  located  just  outside  of  Davenport,  on  320  acres 
of  good  land  so  well  cultivated  that  it  yields  $9,000  to 
$10,000  a  year  toward  the  support  of  the  institution. 
There  are  twrenty  cottages  with  thirty  children  each, 
besides  other  buildings.  The  boys  and  girls  are  domi 
ciled  in  separate  cottages,  and  the  younger  children 
are  kept  by  themselves.  The  others  are  scattered 
through  the  different  cottages  more  by  temperament 


80  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

than  by  age,  so  that  there  are  five  or  six  older  children 
in  each  cottage  to  help  the  matron  do  the  work,  al 
though  the  little  ones  are  made  to  work,  too. 

The  physical  defects  of  these  children  are  admirably 
looked  after.  The  older  boys  work  on  the  farm  half 
a  day  and  are  half  a  day  in  school,  and  the  older  girls 
grow  vegetable  and  flower  gardens.  The  average  stay 
of  children  in  the  home  is  five  and  one  half  years  and, 
as  their  education,  through  the  grammar  grade,  is  com 
pleted  a  state  agent  finds  homes  for  them,  or  they  go 
back  to  their  own  homes  if  they  have  relatives  fit  and 
able  to  take  them.  The  superintendent,  Mr.  F.  J. 
Sessions,  fights  institutionalization  at  every  possible 
point  and  has  certainly  reduced  it  to  a  minimum. 

Dependency  is,  in  Iowra,  either  judicially  determined 
or  determined  by  the  supervisors  of  the  county  that 
sends  the  children  and  has  to  pay  $6  per  month  toward 
their  maintenance.  The  state  pays  $12  per  month  for 
each  child  not  partially  supported  by  a  county,  and 
$6  for  those  who  are,  and  this,  with  the  profits  off  the 
farm,  about  meets  expenses ;  a  very  good  showing 
certainly.  This  is  all  that  Iowa,  as  a  state,  does  for 
orphans. 

The  Michigan  State  School — At  Coldwater,  Michigan, 
is  a  most  interesting  institution  known  as  a  state  school. 
It  is  sort  of  a  clearing  house  for  dependent  children, 
and  it  is  a  good  one.  It  takes  in  hand  such  children 
as  do  not  fall  into  the  hands  of  private  or  associate 
philanthropy;  they  are  adjudged  dependent  by  the 
probate  court  of  the  county  in  which  found,  whereupon 
the  state  assumes  all  responsibility  for  the  child  and 
the  parent  loses  all  rights  to  the  child,  no  matter  what 
the  cause  of  dependency.  The  penalty  of  poverty  is 
the  loss  of  the  child,  and  some  other  person  gets  it  to 
rear  as  soon  as  it  has  been  made  fit  to  go  into  a  home. 
Physical  defects  are  admirably  remedied  if  medical 
and  surgical  skill  can  accomplish  the  result. 

To  find  homes  for  these  children  there  is  a  state  agent 


SOMK  ORPHANAGES  I  HAVE  SEEN.  81 

in  each  county,  and  that  agent  also  visits  each  child 
in  the  county  two  or  more  times  a  year.  There  is  also 
a  state  agent,  connected  with  the  school,  who  visits,  at 
least  once  a  year,  each  child  placed.  This  institution 
has  a  record  of  5480  children  placed  in  homes,  1475  of 
whom  are  still  wards  of  the  state  and  closely  looked 
after.  The  stay  of  the  child  in  this  institution  is  short, 
not  long  enough  to  become  at  all  institutionalized. 
Of  417  children  who  had  come  in  during  the  year,  only 
175  remained  in  the  school  when  I  was  there,  and 
applications  for  children  were  hundreds  ahead  of  the 
power  to  supply  them. 

Little  Lone  "Buckeyes"— Ohio  as  a  state  does  noth 
ing  for  the  support  of  its  little  lone  "buckeyes"  who 
chance  to  be  dependent.  It  does  what  many  persons 
in  California  have  advocated  doing,  turns  them  back 
to  the  several  counties  to  take  care  of  their  own  de 
pendent  children.  It  is  complained  in  California  that 
the  multiplicity  of  orphanages  tends  to  increase  de 
pendency,  but  the  county  system  tends  to  the  same 
end  in  a  greater  degree,  for  there  are  more  of  them 
and  each  one  furnishes  political  jobs  for  those  in  con 
trol  of  dependent  children. 

I  am  told  that,  once  a  county  orphanage  is  estab 
lished,  the  officials  in  charge  manage  to  skurry  around 
and  find  dependent  children  enough  to  enable  them  to 
hold  their  own  official  positions.  I  visited  one  of  these 
county  orphanages  just  out  of  Toledo.  It  was  fairly 
good,  but  not  better  than  almost  any  one  California 
helps  to  sustain.  The  cost  to  the  taxpayer  is  $10  per 
month  per  child,  or  quite  a  little  more  than  in  Cali 
fornia.  Ohio  also  has  many  charitably  endowed  orphan 
ages  rich  enough  to  be  self-sustaining  and,  also,  a  very 
good  system  of  child  placing,  but  so  far  as  dependent 
children  are  supported  at  public  charge  the  work  is 
done  neither  cheaper  nor  better  than  in  California. 

The  Protestant  Orphanage  at  Cleveland— I  visited 
this  fine  old  institution  because  it  has  such  a  celebrated 


82  INSTITUTIONAL    1JFE. 

and  honorable  history.  It  neither  asks  for  nor  receives 
any  public  support,  except  that  the  property  actually 
used  for  the  care  of  the  children  is  not  taxed.  Its 
income-producing  property  is  taxed,  but  the  income  is 
sufficient.  Only  about  100  children  on  an  average  are 
maintained  here,  both  boys  and  girls.  The  work  is  to 
gather  in  the  needy,  fit  them  up,  train  them  to  decent 
living  and  then  place  them  out.  Such  infants  as  come 
in  are  boarded  out  in  the -country  mainly,  in  approved 
homes,  at  $2  to  $3  per  week.  Very  few  of  them  die, 
for  they  are  out  of  town  where  good  milk  is  abundant 
and  there  are  only  three  or  four  in  a  place. 

The  superintendent,  Mr.  Shunk,  had  devoted  thirty- 
three  years  of  continuous  service  in  the  institution,  and 
his  wife  one  year  more.  It  is  not  expected  that,  any 
child  will  remain  in  the  institution  longer  than  three 
years.  If  in  that  time  a  parent  can  take  care  of  a  child 
it  is  given  back,  otherwise  it  is  placed  in  a  home.  No 
children  not  sound  in  body  or  mind  are  accepted  at 
all,  so  little  is  done  in  the  way  of  remedying  physical 
defects.  That  is  left  to  other  institutions. 

This  institution  has  complete  records  of  over  2000 
children  placed,  but  they  are  sealed  to  the  public  and 
to  parents  as  well.  When  a  parent  has  given  up  a 
child  it  is  gone,  and  the  children  do  not  know  and  can 
not  learn  where  other  members  of  their  family  have 
gone.  Their  conditions  of  life  are  so  different  that 
they  would  come  to  have  little  in  common  and  then  the 
foster  parents  who  have  reared  them  have  the  first 
right  to  them  and  to  be  protected  from  their  relatives. 
Less  than  15  per  cent  of  the  children  placed  have  had 
to  be  replaced,  so  well  is  the  preparatory  work  done 
before  a  child  is  taken  to  a  new  home.  It  is  a  clean, 
hard,  cold  system,  but  its  fruit  is  good  citizenship 
where  there  would  have  been  bad  citizenship  and  prob 
ably  criminality  but  for  the  merciful  work  done. 

I  visited  other  orphanages  than  those  discussed 
above,  but  inasmuch  as  none  of  them  possessed  dis 
tinctive  features  of  radical  importance  I  close  this 


IIOMK    FINDING    FOR    CHILDREN.  SH 

chapter  with  a  reference  back  to  the  chapters  devoted 
to  those  semi-orphanage  and  reformatories,  the  New 
York  Juvenile  Asylum  and  the  Catholic  Protectory,  as 
having  important  bearings  upon  the  subject  of  this 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

HOME  FINDING  FOR  CHILDREN. 

If  any  one  feature  of  institutional  life  can  be  said 
to  have  been  uppermost  in  my  mind  while  investigating 
the  institutional  life  of  the  eastern  states  it  was  that 
of  the  placing  out  in  suitable  homes  of  children  free 
and  fit  to  be  placed  in  homes.  There  is  little  reason 
to  doubt  that  there  is  a  childless  home  for  every  home 
less  child  in  this  land,  and  no  reason  to  doubt  that  a 
fair  sort  of  home  is  a  better  place  for  a  child  than  the 
best  orphanage  that  ever  was. 

California  has,  in  my  judgment,  a  round  thousand 
children  in  her  forty-four  orphanages,  costing  the  state 
from  $75,000  to  $100,000  a  year,  aside  from  what  they 
cost  the  charitably  disposed,  who  are  both  free  and  fit 
to  be  placed  in  homes,  but  who  are  not  being  so  placed, 
and  for  the  want  of  adequate  machinery  for  doing 
the  placing.  I  think  that  the  supplying  of  this  need 
is  the  most  important  and  pressing  reformatory  meas 
ure  connected  with  the  dependent-child  problem  as 
it  affects  California.  This  is  my  excuse  for  devoting 
so  much  space  to  this  chapter. 

Child  and  State— Let  it  be  understood  at  the  outset 
that  the  placing  out  of  dependent  childhood  is  clearly 
a  state  responsibility.  Every  dependent  child  is  a 
ward  of  the  state  and  the  state  is  not  doing  its  duty 
by  childhood  if  it  shirks  its  guardianship  without 
limitation,  upon  whomever  the  impulse  of  charity  or 
the  impulse  of  personal  acquisitiveness  may  prompt 
to  undertake  the  work  'of  home  finding  for  children. 


84  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

The  state,  through  its  properly  qualified  officers  (pref 
erably  the  State  Board  of  Charities  and  Corrections) 
should  know  what  is  doing  in  this  direction  and  who 
is  doing  it,  and  should  have  power  to  regulate  the  work 
where  regulation  is  needed.  This  is  the  almost  uni 
versal  custom  throughout  the  East  and  it  is  attended 
with  results  of  the  highest  beneficence. 

The  Michigan  System— Every  county  in  Michigan 
has  a  state  agent  whose  business  it  is  to  find  homes  for 
children  dependent  upon  the  state  and  to  visit  such 
children  as  are  placed  in  homes  other  than  their  own. 
These  agents  are  all  men  (which  is  probably  a  mistake), 
who  are  appointed  by  the  governor  of  the  state  and 
who  draw  salaries  ranging  between  $150  and  $200  a 
year,  according  to  the  populations  of  their  respective 
counties.  It  is  more  nearly  correct  to  say  that  they 
are  paid  a  per  diem  for  visiting,  but  the  entire  recom 
pense  can  not  during  each  calendar  year  exceed  the 
sums  above  mentioned.  The  appointments  are  petty 
political  ones,  but  the  system  does  not  work  badly.' 
The  trend  of  legislation  in  Michigan  is  to  bring  all 
private  and  associate  institutions  for  the  care  of  de 
pendent  children  into  line  with  the  state  system  of 
placing  out.  The  State  Board  of  Charities  and  Cor 
rections  has  a  supervisorial  control  over  all  such  in 
stitutions  and  the  greatest  harmony  exists  between 
private  and  public  instrumentalities  for  doing  this 
much-needed  work. 

The  New  York  Way— In  New  York  state  every  child  • 
placed  in  any  home  other  than  its  own  by  indenture, 
adoption  or  to  board,  is  reported  to  the  State  Board 
of  Charities   and  Corrections  within  five   days  under 
severe   penalty   for   failure,    and   the    State   Board   of 
Charities  maintains  a  very  perfect  system  of  visitation 
to  guard  the  welfare  of  the  child  in  the  home  thus  pre 
pared  for  it.    About  4000  children  are  so  placed  annu 
ally  in  the  state  of  New  York,  and,  besides,  many  New    , 
York  children  are  placed  in  other  states  of  the  west 


HOME    FINDING    K<  >K    ('!  1 1 1.DKKN.  80 

and  south.  Some  institutions  are  strong  enough  to 
have  their  own  system  of  placing  out;  others  avail 
themselves  of  systems  already  in  existence. 

The  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum  System— As  stated 
elsewhere  in  this  volume  the  placing  out  in  the  west 
is  done  for  this  institution  by  the  Children's  Home 
Society,  with  headquarters  at  Chicago.  About  125 
children  are  sent  west  annually,  children  that  are  either 
free  to  go  because  they  have  no  one  to  look  out  for 
them  or  who  have  been  made  free  because  their  parents 
are  unfit  to  have  their  custody.  This  society  pays  the 
Home  Society  $11  per  year  for  placing  and  visiting 
children,  and  $&  more  per  year  per  child  for  office 
work  and  correspondence.  There  are  now  460  children 
out  who  have  been  placed  in  this  way  and  who  are  still 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  society,  not  having  at 
tained  their  majority.  Sixty-seven  of  these  were 
replaced  last  year.  Of  one  group  of  92  children  placed 
in  "first"  homes,  which  means  the  first  trial  home,  33 
had  to  be  replaced  once  and  7  had  to  be  replaced 
twice  before  they  found  places  where  they  fitted.  The 
Home  Society  at  Chicago  finds  in  its  territory  that 
about  half  the  children  will  have  to  be  replaced  at 
least  once  before  they  fit  well. 

The  Catholic  Home  Bureau — This  institution  in  New 
York,  an  auxiliary  of  the  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  Society, 
ha.s  about  as  perfect  a  system  of  home  finding  for 
children  as  any  organization  in  the  country.  It  is 
not  as  large  as  some  others,  as  yet,  but  it  is  growing 
and  is  doing  an  admirable  work  in  an  admirable  man 
ner.  The  Catholic  Home  Bureau  has  an  office  in  New 
York  with  a  superintendent  and  several  stenographers, 
and  it  has  seven  agents  in  the  field. 

When  about  to  enter  a  new  diocese  the  consent  and  co 
operation  of  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  are  first  obtained, 
and  through  the  hearty  cooperation  of  the  bishop  the 
cooperation  of  the  priests  in  the  local  parishes  is  like 
wise  obtained.  A  little  pushing  is  sometimes  needful 


86  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

in  this  quarter  because  the  pastors  of  parish  churches 
are  sometimes  a  good  deal  crowded  with  work  and  are 
loath  to  take  on  new  responsibilities,  but  it  is  rarely 
the  case  that  the  hearty  cooperation  of  the  priest  is 
not  secured  in  a  little  while  at  farthest. 

The  priest  announces  the  probable  coming1  of  an 
agent  of  the  society  to  his  congregation  and  so  prepares 
the  public  mind  for  it.  Then  the  priest  makes  out  and 
has  ready  for  the  agent  upon  his  arrival  a  list  of  the 
families  in  his  parish  who  could,  and  perhaps  should, 
take  a  child  to  rear  as  an  own  child.  No  child  is  placed 
without  the  approval  of  the  parish  priest  who  knows 
his  people  thoroughly.  This  approval,  while  indis 
pensable,  is  not  all-sufficient.  The  home  must  also  be 
approved  by  the  agent  and,  upon  a  full  hearing,  by 
a  special  or  general  committee  of  the  Home  Bureau 
itself.  In  fact,  every  possible  precaution  is  taken  to 
first  prepare  the  home  for  the  child  and  the  child  for 
the  home  to  the  end  that  they  may  fit.  The  home  must 
be  permanent  and  reasonably  prosperous,  must  be 
moral  and  so  situated  that  the  child  may  receive  re 
ligious  instruction.  When  at  last  the  issue  has  been 
decided  the  particular  child  goes  to  the  designated 
home  and  no  other,  and  that  home  takes  that  child  or 
none.  By  making  this  decision  a  finality  whimsical 
preferences  are  avoided  and  the  children  stay  put. 
Less  than  one  half  of  one  per  cent  of  the  children  placed 
out  by  the  Catholic  Home  Bureau  during  seven  years 
of  experience  have  had  to  be  replaced,  and  yet  the 
bureau  is  placing  children  at  the  rate  of  300  per  year. 
This  is  an  incomparable  record,  and  for  the  reason 
that  the  preliminary  work  is  so  intelligently  and  thor 
oughly  done,  and  for  the  further  and  more  vital  reason 
that  the  child  is  taken  into  the  home  more  because  of 
what  the  home  can  do  for  the  child  than  of  what  the 
child  can  do  for  the  home. 

Of  Placing  and  Replacing  in  General— The  bane  of 
placing  out  children  to  be  reared  as  own  children  is 
the  replacing.  A  long-whiskered  Nebraskan  engaged 


IIOMK    FINDING    FOR    (' 1 1  I LDRKN.  87 

in  home  finding  confessed  to  me  that  75  per  cent  of 
the  children  he  placed  had  to  be  replaced  from  once 
to  three  times.  Dr.  Hastings  H.  Hart,  of  the  Children's 
Home  Society  at  Chicago,  admitted  that  50  per  cent 
of  the  children  placed  by  his  society  had  to  be  replaced 
before  attaining  their  majority,  and  this  is  not  con 
sidered  to  be  at  all  a  bad  record.  In  many  instances 
children  are  knocked  about  from  pillar  to  post  until 
they  become  incorrigible  and  have  to  be  sent  to  a 
reform  school,  and  for  no  other  reason  than  that  the 
preliminary  work  of  preparing  a  home  for  the  child, 
and  a  child  for  the  home,  was  not  tactfully  and  effi 
ciently  done. 

The  Protestant  asylum  at  Cleveland,  with  thirty 
years  of  experience  in  placing  children  out  to  be  reared 
as  own  children,  and  with  2000  children  out,  reports 
that  not  above  15  per  cent  of  the  children  have  had  to 
be  replaced.  Under  the  Michigan  system,  so  far  as 
it  affects  the  State  School  at  Coldwater,  not  above  5 
per  cent  of  the  children  placed  in  "first"  homes  have 
to  be  placed  a  second  time.  If  more  than  25  per  cent 
of  dependent  children  placed  in  "first"  homes  have 
to  be  replaced  it  is,  in  my  judgment,  because  the  pre 
liminary  work  was  not  tactfully  and  efficiently  per 
formed.  In  the  cases  of  delinquent  children  of  all 
ages  taken  out  of  the  slums  of  cities,  50  per  cent  of 
replacings  may  not  be  out  of  reason. 

Broken-down  clergymen,  who  were  failures  in  the 
pulpit,  may  make  the  majority  of  child-placing  agents, 
but  they  do  not  make  the  best.  They  do  not  know 
people,  and  therefore  work  to  poor  advantage.  This 
work  is  exacting  and  painstaking  and  requires  clear 
heads,  quick  wits,  keen  powers  of  observation  and 
discrimination  and  a  genuine  enthusiasm,  and  self- 
dependent,  middle-aged  single  women  do  about  the 
best  work  in  this  line  that  is  done. 

Why  Children  Are  Applied  For— Commonly,  orphan 
ages  are  applied  to  for  children  big  enough  to  work, 
with  the  expectation  that  the  child  will  do  more  for 


88  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

the  family  than  the  family  will  do  for  the  child.  In 
such  cases  children  are  too  often  made  into  little 
drudges  scarcely  better  than  young  slaves.  Again,  a 
child  is  applied  for  because  the  woman  of  the  home 
wants  company,  and  a  child  to  take  out  with  her  to 
show  off  to  good  advantage.  In  such  cases  it  is  in 
dispensable  that  the  child  have  a  peach-blow  com 
plexion  and  a  sweet  disposition.  All  want  a  sweet 
disposition  and  no  blemishes  of  person  or  character. 
While  a  quid  pro  quo  is  not  incompatible  with  the 
taking  of  a  child  into  the  family  home  to  be  reared,  yet, 
if  no  higher  motive  than  that  is  made  manifest,  no 
child  should  be  entrusted  to  such  a  household  if  a 
better  may  be  found.  It  is  because  of  bitter  experiences 
of  mistreatment  and  childish  unhappiness  that  most 
orphanages  are  reluctant  to  give  their  children  to 
whomever  may  ask  for  them. 

Why  Children  Should  be  Applied  For— What  parent 
does  not  expect  to  do  more  for  an  own  child  than  he 
expects  such  child  to  do  for  him?  And  what  foster 
parent  has  a  reasonable  right  to  expect  more  from  a 
stranger  than  from  an  own  child?  The  rearing  of  any 
child  is  an  act  of  unselfish  consecration  to  the  highest 
form  of  human  service,  whether  own  or  adopted.  Un 
less  the  childless  home  wants  a  child  for  the  purpose 
of  doing  for  it,  for  the  purpose  of  loving  and  cherishing 
it,  and  of  making  the  most  out  of  it  that  the  material 
in  it  will  allow,  that  home  will  do  well  to  remain 
childless,  and  the  child  will  do  well  to  remain  in  an 
orphanage  until  it  gets  big  enough  to  take  its  own 
chances  in  a  chill-hearted  world.  Thank  heaven  there 
are  those  who  apply  for  children  because  they  love 
children,  because  their  hearts  warm  toward  them,  and 
because  they  find  their  own  highest  happiness  in  min 
istering  to  the  needs  of  one  of  God's  forlorn  creatures. 
Such  persons  often  undertake  the  task  as  a  thank 
offering  to  a  kind  Providence  for  the  abundant  measure 
of  their  own  prosperity.  I  have  in  mind  a  woman  who 


HOME    FINDING    FOR    CHILDREN.  89 

brought  up  twelve  children  of  her  own,  and  three 
others,  but,  when  they  had  all  gone  from  the  motherly 
coop,  she  sent  a  daughter  to  an  orphanage  for  another, 
asking  by  preference  for  "some  little  crippled  child 
whom  no  one  else  would  care  to  take."  I  venture  the 
prophecy  that,  in  the  kingdom-come,  that  swarthy  and 
rotund  multi-mother  will  have  a  stature  ten  feet  tall 
with  a  complexion  of  alabaster.  There  are  such  men 
and  women  in  the  world.  The  thing  of  it  is  to  find 
them  and  put  them  in  mind  of  an  opportunity  to  render 
a  Christ  service  to  one  of  those  little  ones  whom  he 
always  suffered  to  come  unto  him.  The  rearing  of  a 
child  is  no  picnic.  It  is  a  sacramental  covenant  with 
the  Most  High.  • 

The  Children's  Guardians  of  New  Jersey— This  or 
ganization  has  not  borne  the  test  of  time,  for  it  was 
only  organized  in  1899,  but  it  seems  to  be  working  on 
right  lines.  The  working  force  is  supported  by  the 
state,  but  the  children  are  supported  by  the  counties 
in  which  they  reside.  When  dependent  children  are 
turned  into  the  almshouses  they  are  at  once  turned 
over  to  the  Children's  Guardians,  which  first  boards 
them  out  in  private  families  at  rates  ranging  between 
$1.50  and  $2.75  per  week,  according  to  age  and  care 
needed,  with  an  allowance  of  $18  per  year  for  clothes, 
and  then  finds  permanent  homes  for  them  as  soon  as 
they  are  free  and  fit  to  go  into  homes.  This  is  done  so 
efficiently  that  there  is  no  accumulation  of  dependent 
childhood  in  New  Jersey. 

Many  families  may  suffer  dismemberment  of  a  per 
manent  character,  but  the  larger  part  of  the  children 
taken  in  charge  are  discharged  to  relatives  who  have 
survived  their  adversity  or  who  have  been  found  after- 
diligent  search.  Often  they  are  willing  enough  to  take 
care  of  the  children,  but  had  lost  track  of  their  kin  and 
did  not  know  of  their  poverty. 

Children's  Aid  Societies— There  air  many  of  these 
and  some  of  them  have  done  a  great  work  in  finding 
homes  for  homeless  children.  The  New  York  society 


90  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

of  this  name  is  fifty-one  years  old  and  has  placed 
children  in  the  west  and  south  by  the  tens  of  thousands. 
About  five  per  cent  of  these  children  have  turned  out 
badly.  Twenty-five  per  cent  have  had  to  be  replaced 
and  fifteen  per  cent  more  than  once.  A  farm  is  main 
tained  in  Westchester  county,  where  the  children 
gathered  up  from  the  streets*  and  tenements  of  New 
York  are  sent  to  be  put  into  good  condition  before 
going  west  or  south,  of  late  years  mainly  to  Texas. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

WHAT  CALIFORNIA  SHOULD  DO. 

California  is  maintaining  as  dependent,  by  and  with 
the  help  of  public  charity,  a  large  number  of  children 
who  should  not  be  dependent  and  who  need  not  be  if 
those  who  are  responsible  for  them  were  made  to  do 
their  duty.  It  must  be  somebody's  business  to  do  this 
or  it  will  not  be  done.  It  blights  the  life  of  the  child 
and  encourages  a  hereditary  pauperism. 

The  office  of  the  State  Board  of  Examiners  maintains 
a  restraining  influence  over  dependency,  but  it  has 
not  now  and  never  has  had  a  force  adequate  for  search 
ing  out  the  ultimate  facts  concerning  each  case  certi 
fied  up  to  it  by  the  forty-four  orphanages  and  the 
fifty-seven  boards  of  supervisors  of  the  respective 
counties.  Nor  are  the  managers  of  the  orphanages  any 
better  equipped  for  this  service.  They  are  charity 
workers,  their  means  is  limited  and  the  time  they  can 
give  to  the  work  more  so,  and,  besides,  a  hard-luck 
story  is  likely  to  be  received  at  more  than  par  value 
by  persons  charged  with  the  conduct  of  benevolent 
institutions.  If  they  had  not  been  benevolently  inclined 
they_would  not  have  been  associated  with  a  benevolent 
institution. 

A  proper  tribunal  for  the  determination  of  an  issue 
of  fact  in  which  the  public  or  the  state  is  interested, 
is  a  ceurt.  I  think  that  the  law  should  be  so  amended 


WHAT  CALIFORNIA   SHOULD   DO.  91 

that  no  child  should  become  a  charge  upon  the  bounty 
of  the  state  until  its  dependency  has  been  judicially 
determined.  This  will  save  the  state  tens  of  thousands 
of  dollars  annually  and  will  work  childhood  no  wrong. 
It  will  also  have  a  tendency  to  enforce  parental  re 
sponsibility.  I  have  already  spoken  quite  fully  on  this 
subject  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  "The  Dependent 
Child." 

My  next  most  important  recommendation  is  for  the. 
establishment  of  a  system  of  authorized  home-finding 
for  children  who  are  both  free  and  fit  to  go  into  homes 
to  be  reared  as  own  children  or  by  indenture  until 
they  are  old  enough  to  take  care  of  themselves.  There 
is  a  species  of  child  brokerage  going  011  that  should  be 
stopped,  but  all  proper  persons  should  be  licensed  to 
engage  in  home-finding  who  desire  to  devote  them 
selves  to  that  benevolence. 

It  is  my  judgment  that  this  much-needed  work  can 
best  be  performed  under  the  supervision  and  control 
of  the  State  Board  of  Charities  and  Corrections.  It 
should  have  power  to  scrutinize  all  agencies  for  child- 
placing  and  to  authorize  or  prohibit  their  activities 
according  as  their  work  meets  with  approval  or  merits 
disapprobation.  Coupled  with  this  should  go  a  visi- 
torial  power,  with  force  enough  to  make  that  power 
effective,  which  should  result  in  an  agent  visiting  every 
child  placed  out  by  any  person  in  the  state  as  often 
as  twice  a  year  until  legally  adopted  or  until  such 
children  have  attained  their  majority. 

One  reason  why  this  function  should  be  turned  over 
to  the  State  Board  of  Charities  and  Corrections  is  that 
such  is  the  custom  of  the  .older  states  of  the  Union, 
which  have  been  brought  into  closest  contact  with  the 
dependent-child  problem,  and  the  system  works  Avell 
there. 

A  second  reason  is  that  a  system,  once  established, 
can  be  given  a  continuity  of  operation  under  such  a 
board  that  it  could  not  have  under  any  state  office 
likdy  to  suffer  a  change  of  personnel  at  every  change  of 


92  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

administration.  A  continuing  policy  is  indispensable 
to  success. 

Furthermore,  the  supervision  of  the  placing  of  chil 
dren  in  homes  is  itself  a  charity  and  appertains  natu 
rally  to  a  State  Board  of  Charities. 

Finally,  under  no  circumstances  should  a  dependent 
child  become  the  victim  of  partisan  politics.  In  all  of 
the  states  of  the  east,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to 
inform  myself,  their  several  State  Boards  of  Charities 
have  maintained  themselves  entirely  outside  of  the 
current  of  political  influence,  and  the  constitution  of  the 
California  State  Board  is  well  calculated  to  attain  this 
much  to  be  desired  end.  In  no  other  board  or  com 
mission  is  the  welfare  of  the  child  likely  to  be  so  well 
and  so  impartially  looked  out  for  as  under  the  State 
Board  of  Charities  and  Corrections. 

The  auditing  of  expense  accounts  should  continue  to 
be,  as  at  present,  a  function  of  the  State  Board  of  Ex 
aminers. 

These  two  reformatory  measures  will,  I  feel  sure,  if 
put  into  effective  operation,  cut  the  state's  financial 
burden  occasioned  by  dependent  childhood  in  twain, 
and  yet  make  the  dependent  child  much  better  cared  for 
than  at  present. 

The  dependent  child  is  the  ward  of  the  state  and  the 
state  should  better  and  more  intelligently  discharge 
its  duties  as  ultimate  guardian.  There  has  been  dere 
liction  of  duty  in  this  particular,  and  the  consequences 
of  that  dereliction  have  been  serious  to  the  child  and 
burdensome  to  the  state  treasury. 

Furthermore,  by  extending  the  paid  probation  officer 
system  to  all  of  the  counties  of  the  state,  as  stated  in 
the  chapter  devoted  to  "The  Dependent  Child,"  a  well- 
ordered  and  most  promising  system  of  child  placing, 
and  child  visiting,  under  the  eyes  of  the  juvenile  court, 
will  have  been  at  once  created.  With  the  aid  of  the 
State  Board  of  Charities  and  Corrections  in  organizing 
this  system  cooperatively  California  will  be  equipped 
with  a  placing-out  and  visitation  system  second  to  that 
of  no  other  state  in  the  Union. 


TMK    BOAKI>IX(i-OrT   SYSTEM.  93 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE  BOARDING-OUT  SYSTEM. 

All  states  and  countries  have  orphanages,  but  there 
are  some  states  which  are  coming  to  the  conclusion 
that  an  orphanage  is  not  absolutely  indispensable  and 
perhaps  does  not  furnish  the  best  disposition  that  can 
be  made  of  a  dependent  child.  To  send  a  dependent 
child  off  to  the  nearest  orphanage  is  to  move  in  the 
direction  of  least  resistance,  but  not  always  in  the 
direction  of  best  opportunity  for  the  child. 

The  Massachusetts  Way— There  are  a  good  many 
orphanages  in  Massachusetts,  but  they  are  nearly  all 
of  them  rich  enough  to  live  and  do  their  appointed 
work  without  other  support  than  their  endowments 
afford,  although  charity  may  be  appealed  to  now  and 
again  by  some  of  them.  However,  there  are  many 
children  who  become  dependent  who  fall  into  the  hands 
of  the  State  Board  of  Charities  instead  of  into  an 
orphanage.  This  board  boards  these  children  out  in 
licensed  private  families  all  over  the  state  instead  of 
putting  them  into  an  institution  of  any  sort.  And  this 
is  done  whether  the  dependent  child  has  relatives  or 
not. 

Massachusetts  has  upward  of  4000  of  its  wards  out 
at  board  at  prices  ranging  from  $2  per  week  for  ordi 
nary  children  to  $2.75  for  babies,  and  not  more  than 
three  or  four  are  allowed  in  one  family.  Most  of  these 
homes  are  on  New  England  farms,  where  the  children 
are  well  housed  and  sent  to  school  if  old  enough.  The 
state  also  clothes  the  children  in  addition  to  boarding 
them  and  pays  for  reasonable  medical  attendance.  If 
children  are  in  a  diseased  condition  they  are  first  sent 
to  the  Massachusetts  general  hospital  for  treatment. 

The  first  cost  of  caring  for  dependent  children  in 
this  way  is  quite  a  good  deal  in  excess  of  that  in  the 
California  orphanage,  but  the  Yankee  trick  of  it  is 


94  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

that  when  the  State  Board  undertakes  to  change  the 
boarding-place  of  children  about  an  even  half  of  them 
are  refused  to  be  given  up.  They  have  worked  them 
selves  into  the  hearts  of  their  care-takers  until  they 
are  willing  to  keep  them  without  cost  to  the  state,  and 
they  are  reared  as  own  children. 

To  insure  good  treatment  of  the  children  boarded  out 
and  placed  .out,  a  corps  of  fifty  volunteer  visitors  is 
maintained  in  the  different  communities  where  the 
children  are  placed.  They  keep  close  watch  and  report 
to  the  State  Board  of  Charities  at  short  intervals  if 
there  be  necessity  for  it.  In  addition  to  these  the 
State  Board  maintains  a  small  corps  of  trained  visitors 
who  are  in  the  field  nearly  all  the  time  and  who  see 
all  the  state's  dependent  wards  at  least  twice  a  year 
or  as  much  oftener  as  may  be  necessary  to  insure  good 
care. 

Independent  Boston— The  city  of  Boston  has  a  similar 
system  of  its  own,  managed  independently  of  the  geiv- 
eral  state  work.  The  first  fight  Boston  makes  is  to 
prevent  a  child  having  a  record  of  pauperism  to  shadow 
it  in  after  life,  and  to  this  end  a  thorough  investigation 
of  each  case  is  made  and  if  possible  some  relative  is 
found  to  whom  the  dependent  child  may  be  safely  sent. 
The  law  makes  grandparents  responsible  if  they  have 
the  ability  to  pay,  and  they  may  either  take  the  de 
pendent  child  into  their  own  home  or  pay  for  his 
board  elsewhere,  in  which  case  no  record  of  pauperism 
is  made.  If  no  relative  can  be  found  to  assume  the 
burden  the  fact  of  dependency  then  becomes  estab 
lished  more  by  investigation  than  by  judicial  procedure, 
but  there  are  officers  in  abundance  commissioned  to 
do  this  work  under  the  guidance  of  a  board  of  seven 
trustees  of  the  poor.  Families  are  held  together  as 
long  as  possible,  even  if  they  must  be  helped  to  tide 
over  trying  periods.  Children  are  taken  from  their 
parents  only  when  unfit,  that  fact  being  judicially  de 
termined.  Boston  has  over  -900  dependent  and  neg- 


THE    BOAKDING-OI'T  SYSTEM.  95 

lected  children  boarding  out  in  the  New  England  states 
at  city  expense.  These  children  are  all  visited  by  paid 
visitors  independently  of  the  state  visitors.  About  the 
only  institutions  connected  with  the  whole  Boston  sys 
tem  are  a  parental  school  and  a  house  of  reformation. 

Something  Doing  in  Pennsylvania — The  Children's 
Aid  Society  at  Philadelphia  has  entered  upon  an  im 
portant  work  much  in  line  with  the  Boston  and  Massa 
chusetts  systems.  This  association  receives  a  lump 
sum  of  $7500  from  the  state,  and  $2  per  child  per  week 
from  the  city  of  Philadelphia  for  dependent  children 
boarded  out.  If  parents  encounter  an  industrial  hard 
ship  of  some  sort,  which  they  frequently  do  as  a  result 
of  strikes  and  lockouts,  they  may  turn  their  children 
over  to  this  society  and  it  -will  take  them  into  the 
country,  board  them  out  and  send  them  to  school,  and 
bring  them  back  again  when  the  parents  become  able 
to  support  them. 

If,  however,  children  are  really  dependent  they  are 
first  boarded  at  rates  ranging  from  $1.50  per  week, 
where  a  child  is  old  enough  to  do  some  work,  to  $2.75 
for  a  baby  in  arms.  The  babies  are  always  sent  where 
cows  are  kept,  and  they  generally  thrive.  The  Aid 
Society  allows  $30  per  year  for  clothing  and  something 
for  medical  attendance  if  necessary,  although  local 
physicians  seldom  charge  for  their  services. 

As  in  Massachusetts,  so  in  Pennsylvania,  when  the 
society  undertakes  to  change  boarding-places  there  is 
generally  a  weepy  time  of  it,  with  the  result  that  the 
child  remains  in  the  home  as  a  free  if  not  as  an  adopted 
child.  Of  7000  children  out  at  the  time  of  my  visit 
fully  3000  were  on  the  free  list.  A  close  system  of 
visitation  is  maintained,  and  the  consensus  of  opinion 
seemed  to  be  that  the  boarding-out  system  is  far  prefer 
able  to  the  orphanage  plan  of  caring  for  dependent 
children  and  not  much  more  expensive  in  the  long  run. 
The  children  enjoy  a  normal  home  life  and  are  not  at 
all  institutionized  and  only  slightly  pauperized. 


96  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

In  all  cases  above  mentioned  only  well  children  are, 
in  the  main,  boarded  out — children  with  no  deficiencies 
to  speak  of.  The  epileptics  are  sent  to  an  institution 
especially  for  their  care,  the  feeble-minded  to  another, 
and  those  with  remediable  deficiencies  are  sent  to  the 
hospitals  where  they  are  generally  treated  free,  or  next 
thing  to  it,  and  so  are  given  a  fair  start  in  life. 

The  boarding-out  system  is  not  a  bad  one  if  looked 
after  sharply,  but  if  not  children  are  not  unlikely  to 
suffer  hardships  through  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
wrong  kind  of  persons.  Vigilance  is  the  price  of  suc 
cess,  but  it  seemed  to  me  that  there  was  no  lack  of 
requisite  vigilance.  Always,  too,  this  system  supple 
ments  a  very  old,  ample  and  well-endowed  system  of 
orphanages  founded  by  individual  or  associated  be 
nevolence,  and  the  boarding-out  system  practically 
takes  care  of  only  the  excess  of  children  over  and  above 
what  the  institutions  are  able  to  care  for.  It  is  not 
causing  any  of  such  institutions,  of  which  Massachu 
setts  has  a  round  hundred,  to  close  their  doors. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

ODDS  AND  ENDS  OF  THE  CHILD  PROBLEM. 

Adoption — There  are  those  who  feel  that  they  are 
not  warranted  in  placing  out  a  child  in  a  home  unless 
they  can  require  the  foster  parents  to  adopt  the  child 
legally  and  so  make  it  their  own.  This  is  as  likely  to 
work  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  child  as  to  its  advan 
tage.  What  the  dependent  child  needs  is  to  be  well 
brought  up,  and  the  child  that  finds  itself  in  a  home 
where  it  by  and  by  ceases  to  be  welcome  is  not  bene 
fited  by  being  so  annexed  to  that  home  that  it  can  not 
legally  be  separated  from  it.  It  will  be  far  better  to 
have  it  -replaced  in  a  home  more  suited  to  its  tempera 
ment  and  character.  There  are  many  who  would  be 
willing  to  take  a  child  to  rear  to  maturity  and  to  fit  for 


ODDS    AND  ENDS  OF   THK   CMIU)    PROBLEM.  97 

life  who  are  not  willing  to  agree  at  the  outset  to  make  it 
a  sharer  in  the  family  estate,  as  it  will  be  entitled  to 
be  if  legally  adopted.  It  is  not  a  patrimony  that  the 
child  wants.  It  is  a  good,  honest,  capable  American 
bringing  up.  Finally,  the  matter  of  adoption  may 
safely  be  left  to  time  and  the  inclinations  of  the  parties. 
If  the  child  makes  its  way  into  the  holy  of  holies  of 
the  hearts  of  its  foster  parents,  as  is  so  often  the  case, 
that  child  will  be  adopted  soon  enough  and  will,  be 
made  heir,  not  only  at  law,  but  in  love  and  affection. 

Indenture— In  some  states  children  are  indentured 
rather  than  adopted.  The  New  York  law  is  quite 
specific  on  the  point.  This  is  done  where  the  child  is 
old  enough  to  learn  a  trade  or  occupation  and  to  render 
a  service  commensurate  writh  the  advantage.  Some 
times  in  such  cases  an  agreement  stands  the  child  in 
good  stead,  but  not  often.  It  tends  to  make  the  relation 
more  permanent  and  not  to  be  terminated  because  of 
some  whim ;  but  in  all  such  cases  the  child  needs  some 
next  of  kin,  or  friend  of  the  court,  to  preserve  the 
child's  rights,  and  indenture  without  a  system  of  vis 
itation  that  insures  the  protection  of  the  child  in  its 
rights  is  hardly  worth  the  paper  it  is  written  on. 

At  Good  Will — Perhaps  the  best  wray  of  placing  out 
children  is  to  first  use  great  care  in  selecting  the  home 
and  the  child,  and  in  fitting  the  child  into  the  home 
intelligently,  and  then  leave  both  home  and  child  to 
endure  each  other  so  long  as  a  mutuality  of  good  will 
exists.  This  arrangement  may  seem  a  little  loose,  but 
it  offers  the  advantage  of  making  it  comparatively 
easy  to  remedy  a  mistake  if  one  occur,  and  it  gives  all 
needed  opportunity  for  the  child  to  grow  into  the 
family  heart  and  so  become  part  and  parcel  thereof. 
This  arrangement  inclines  people  to  take  the  risk  of 
undertaking  to  rear  a  stranger  child,  and  does  not  at 
all  stand  in  the  way  of  loving  it  as  an  own  child — the 
real  aim  of  every  placing  out. 


98  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

Compulsory  Support— Compelling  any  relative  other 
than  father  and  mother  to  support  a  dependent  child 
may  save  something  to  the  state,  but  is  likely  to  inflict 
great  hardship  upon  the  child.  It  better  bents  a  nar 
row-minded  community  where  a  dollar  of  tax  looks 
like  an  impending  disaster  than  it  does  a  great  com 
monwealth  solicitous  for  the  proper  discharge  of  its 
duty  as  ultimate  guardian.  On  the  other  hand,  com 
pulsory  enforcement  of  parental  duty  often  results  in 
redeeming  the  parents  to  reputable  living.  There  is  an 
innate  justice  in  it  that  commends  it  to  the  conscience 
and  understanding  of  the  most  depraved  and  shiftless 
of  mankind,  and  as  compulsion  usually  goes  with  a 
helping  hand  to  secure  employment,  and  a  probationary 
hostage  to  good  conduct,  efforts  at  compulsory  parental 
support  generally  work  out  to  the  mutual  advantage 
of  all  concerned. 

Desertion  of  Family — This  is  a  problem  to  which  the 
best  sociological  thought  is  giving  close  attention.  It 
is  not  the  father  who  can  not  support  his  family  who 
deserts  it,  nor  is  it  the  man  who  is  weighed  down  with 
'bodily  affliction  or  racked  with  the  pains  of  accumulat 
ing  years.  It  is  the  beast  of  a  man,  in  the  full  hey-dey 
of  manly  vigor,  who  finds  the  care  of  a  family  a  burden 
and  that  the  burden  stands  in  the  wray  of  the  fuller 
gratification  of  his  own  physical  appetites.  He  wants 
to  spend  all  his  earnings  on  himself,  and  what  he  needs 
is  a  good  dose  of  cat-o'-nine  tails.  What  his  family 
needs,  though,  is  to  make  him  perform  his  duties  as 
husband  and  father. 

This  can  be  done  if  only  some  one  will  do  it.  Ordi 
nary  officers  will  not.  A  probationary  court  can,  if 
there  be  a  society  to  take  the  initial  steps.  It  must  be 
a  question  of  rotting  in  jail  or  going  to  work  to  support 
the  family,  and  that  probation  must  be  continuous 
until  the  man  has  formed  habits  of  industry  and  recon 
ciled  himself  to  his  duty.  Mere  severity  of  the  law  will 
not  suffice.  In  fact,  it  tends  to  bar  the  way  toward 


ODDS  AND  ENDS  OF  THE  CHILD  PROBLEM.  99 

reforming  the  innn  by  creating  sympathy  for  him.  It 
is  just  as  well  to  have  desertion  a  misdemeanor  as  a 
felony  if  only  something-  can  be  done  about  it.  Six 
months  in  jail,  with  an  alternative  of  going  to  work, 
is  as  good  as  a  year,  and  it  has  been  decided  that  a 
culprit  may  be  extradited  for  a  misdemeanor  as  well 
as  for  a  felony. 

It  is  the  favorite  trick  of  these  men  to  run  over  an 
adjacent  state  line  and  then  wriggle  their  fingers  in 
the  faces  of  their  late  neighbors.  A  few  prompt  extra 
ditions  have,  in  eastern  states,  had  a  most  wholesome 
influence.  A  certainty  of  having  the  law  meted  out 
to  this  form  of  malefactor  will  work  a  radical  reform 
in  conduct.  At  present  a  certainty  that  nothing  what 
ever  will  be  done  about  it  makes  this  one  of  the  most 
exasperating  and  prevalent  social  evils  workers  among 
dependent  childhood  have  to  deal  with.  It  costs  Cali-. 
fornia,  state  and  counties,  tens  of  thousands  annually. 

After  Fourteen,  What?— It  is  well  known  that  state 
aid  to  dependent  childhood  ceases  at  fourteen  years  o: 
age.     After  that,  then  what  becomes  of  the  children 
There  is  now  no   one   in  California   capable   of  full} 
answering  this  question.    The  State  Board  of  Charities 
and  Corrections  is  at  work  on  it,  but  is,  as  I  understand 
not  ready  to  report.     It  is  about  the  most  vulnerable 
period  of  a  child's  life.     Perhaps  the  girl  is  a  little 
more  in  danger  at  sixteen,  but  at  fourteen  neither  t 
boy  nor  a  girl  is  fit  for  the  responsibilities  of  self-direc 
tion,  the  more  especially  if  the.  previous  six  or  eigh 
years  have  been  spent  in  an  orphanage.     They  need  to 
be   looked   out   for   as  much   then   as   ever,   but   mos 
orphanages  find  ways  of  washing  their  hands  of  al 
responsibility  for  them.    Not  all  do  so.    Some  find  work 
for  them  and  keep  in  touch  with  them  while  they  may 
but  none  of  the  orphanages  with  which  I  am  acquainted 
is  financially  able  to  follow  them. 

Here  is  another  good  sphere  of  activity  for  the  State 
Board  of  Charities  and  Corrections.     By  a  system  of 


100  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

visitation  and  work-finding  for  these  children  of  four 
teen  many  of  them  may  be  saved  to  reputable  life  who 
are  now  lost  to  it.  In  its  admirable  Technical  school  in 
San  Francisco  the  Catholic  Church  is  providing  for 
such  of  these  as  are  girls  and  as  are  capable  of  becoming 
expert  seamstresses.  Los  Angeles  needs  another  insti 
tution  of  that  kind,  but  even  if  it  had  one  these  two 
could  care  for  only  a  small  part  of  the  Catholic  chil 
dren.  The  Episcopal  Church  is  doing  a  good  work  in 
San  Francisco  also,  but  practical  benevolence  can  find 
a  boundless  sphere  of  utility  here.  The  child  who  goes 
out  of  an  orphanage  should  not  be  let  go  of  until  it  has 
come  to  the  period  of  self-realization,  and  that  period 
is  seldom  reached  until  somewhere  between  eighteen 
and  twenty-one  years  of  age.  Some  eastern  states 
carry  along  the  period  of  public  help  to  sixteen  years 
of  age  instead  of  fourteen,  but  that  does  not  so  much 
better  things.  It  is  not  safe  to  let  go  altogether  until 
the  dawn  of  common  sense  has  burst  forth  efful  gentry. 

Health  in  Orphanages— It  is  due  to  our  California 
orphanages  to  say  of  them  that,  almost  without  excep 
tion,  the  general  health  of  their  wards  is  good,  much 
better  than  that  of  an  equal  number  of  children  out 
side.  Institutional  life  is  healthful  most  everywhere. 
There  is  plenty  of  plain  living  if  not  a  superabundance 
of  high  thinking,  and  the  regularity  of  the  life,  the 
going  to  bed  at  a  certain  hour  and  the  getting  up  at 
another,  the  inability  to  run  to  the  cupboard  and  to 
buy  candies  and  jim-cracks— all  these  things  are  con 
ducive  to  good  health,  sound  sleep  and  able-bodied 
digestions.  Remember  this  to  their  credit. 

The  Reward  of  Success — The  successful  coping  with 
the  problem  of  delinquent  and  dependent  childhood 
almost  involves  the  issue  of  the  progress  of  the  human 
race.  No  civilization  can  endure  half  criminal  and  half 
exemplary,  or  even  a  tenth  criminal  and  nine-tenths 
above  serious  reproach.  In  fact,  the  whole  burden  of 
institutional  life,  which,  in  one  form  or  another,  em- 


THE  FEEBLE-MINDED   CHILD.  101 

braces  all  of  dependency  and  all  of  criminality,  hardly 
concerns  one  person  in  the  hundred,  and  yet  how  great 
is  that  burden.  It  is  practically  the  hundredth  man 
who  creates  the  whole  problem  of  government.  Elim 
inate  that  man,  and  prevent  his  place  being  filled  by 
another,  and  the  courts  may  take  vacations  three- 
quarters  of  the  year,  the  prison  doors  be  thrown  off 
the  hinges  and  the  asylums  razed  to  the  ground.  And 
the  problem  of  the  hundredth  man  of  to-morrow  is  the 
problem  of  the  dependent  and  delinquent  child  of 
to-day.  The  reward  of  success  in  dealing  with  this 
problem  is  the  emancipation  of  the  race. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 
THE  FEEBLE-MINDED  CHILD. 

The  output  of  watches  in  the  great  factory  at 
Waltham,  Massachusetts,  is  said  to  be  about  3000  per 
day.  In  each  day's  output  there  are  some  250  or  300 
timepieces  which  will  not  run.  They  were  made  by 
the  same  persons  who  made  the  successful  watches  and 
with  the  aid  of  the  same  splendidly  appointed  machin 
ery,  but  the  wheels  will  not  go  round.  Long  experience 
has  demonstrated  the  futility  of  trying  to  discover  and 
remedy  the  deficiencies  of  these  watches  and,  inasmuch 
as  they  are  metal  and  not  flesh  and  blood,  they  are 
thrown  into  the  scrap  heap  and  melted  up. 

About  the  same  percentage  of  children  born  in  Massa 
chusetts  are  similarly  deficient.  They  are  born  of  the 
same  parents  as  other  perfectly  normal  children,  but 
somehow  the  inscrutable  mechanism  which  provides 
for  replenishing  the  earth  with  human  kind  scores  the 
most  dismal  failures  imaginable  in  one  out  of  each 
250  or  300  attempts,  and  society  is  burdened  with  a 
more  or  less  serious  problem  of  maintaining  these 
imbeciles  while  they  live. 


102  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

Other  Reasons  Why— This  is  not  saying  that  there 
are  no  known  methods  for  accounting  for  feeble-mind- 
edness  in  children.  There  are  some  such  methods  fairly 
well  known  to  the  medical  profession,  but  there  are 
more  assumptions  of  knowledge  than  ascertained  truths. 
There  are  reasons  to  suppose  that  attempts  at  race 
suicide  have  resulted  in  the  birth  of  feeble-minded 
progeny.  It  is  almost  a  certainty  that  the  offspring  of 
feeble-minded  persons  will  be  feeble-minded,  although 
this  does  not  always  follow.  Alcoholism  may  be 
charged  with  from  7  or  8  to  331/3  per  cent,  owing  to 
the  predisposition  of  the  mind  of  the  statistician 
toward  alcoholics. 

Whatever  the  primary  cause  may  be  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  the  immediate  cause  is  the  malnutrition 
of  the  unborn  child.  The  product  is  what  is  slangily 
termed  "half  baked,"  when  it  should  mean  half  fed. 
Statistical  information  of  a  truly  scientific  character 
is  wanting,  because  the  data  obtained  are  incomplete 
and  dependent  upon  what  the  relatives  are  of  a  mind 
to  tell.  However,  this  much  is  known,  there  are  many 
thousands  of  feeble-minded  persons  in  every  common 
wealth,  ranging  all  the  way  from  the  border  line  of 
normal  mentality  down  to  idiocy  of  such  a  pronounced 
character  as  to  make  the  subjects  to  all  intents 
swaddled  and  diapered  infants,  to  be  cared  for  as  such 
through  all  the  days  of  their  lives. 

The  Situation  in  California— The  California  Home 
for  Feeble-Minded  at  Eldridge  is  caring  for  550  inmates. 
It  has  been  estimated  that  there  are  2000  more  feeble 
minded  children  in  the  state  who  are  eligible  for  admis 
sion  and  who  need  to  be  cared  for.  This  would  account 
for  only  one  feeble-minded  person  in  California  to  each 
750  of  population  or  thereabouts.  That  there  are  many 
more  can  hardly  be  questioned.  Every  physician  in 
his  private  practice  knows  of  one  or  more  persons  who 
are  distinctly  feeble-minded.  Then  there  are  numbers 
so  near  the  border  line  as  to  be  burdens  upon  the 


THE  FEEBLE-MINDED   CHILD.  10:] 

public  in  one  form  or  another,  generally  in  the  produc 
tion  of  pauperism  and  criminality  because  irresponsible 
and  unequal  to  a  single-handed  contest  with  the  world 
into  which  they  were  badly  born. 

What  Can  be  Done  for  Them — A  feeble-minded  child 
is  much  like  other  children  save  that  it  is  feeble-minded. 
Its  mind  is  not  a  blank.  Idiocy  is  only  a  more  aggra 
vated  type  of  feeble-mindedness,  and  not,  as  many 
suppose,  a  different  thing,  and  even  an  idiot  can  be 
taught.  Many  feeble-minded  children  can  be  taught  a 
great  deal,  and  their  working  capacity  may  in  many 
instances  be  developed  to  the  point  of  making  them 
self-sustaining,  but  no  feeble-minded  person  will  ever 
become  self -directing.  That  consummation  of  intellec 
tual  power  known  as  common  sense  will  never  be 
vouchsafed  to  them  and,  wanting  it,  they  must  be 
looked  after  and  their  lives  ordered  by  others  than 
themselves.  The  acme  of  achievement  for  them  is  to 
be  raised  to  the  condition  of  cleanly,  moral,  happy  and 
self-sustaining  existence.  By  the  percentage  of  its 
inmates  which  are  raised  above  the  custodial  grade  is 
the  success  or  failure  of  an  institution  for  the  feeble 
minded  to  be  determined. 

Custodial  cases  are  those  which  have  to  be  handled 
like  infants  and  are  set  down  as  not  teachable.  Judged 
by  this  standard  a  great  difference  will  be  found  to 
exist  among  institutions  devoted  to  this  work  through 
out  the  country.  California's  institution  at  Eldridge, 
through  lack  of  an  adequate  teaching  force,  is  not 
very  near  the  head  of  the  column.  The  obligation 
which  society  owes  to  God  and  humanity  is  to  make 
the  most  of  these  unfortunates  that  the  material  in 
them  will  allow,  and  to  lift  the  burden  of  their  care 
off  the  shoulders  of  those  families  who  have  this  man 
ner  of  skeleton  in  the  family  closet.  It  is  the  body  of 
death  chained  to  the  living  and  from  which  they  should 
be  freed  if  they  can  be.  Often  they  are  no  more  at 
fault  in  the;  matter  than  the  makers  of  the  Waltham 


104  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

watches  that  would  not  go,  but  even  if  they  have  sinned 
their  punishment  has  been  greater  than  they  can  bear 
without  sacrificing  all  there  is  of  life  worth  the  living. 
California  should  enlarge  its  capacity  for  caring  for 
these  unfortunates. 

Not  All  Born  So— It  is  by  no  means  true  that  all 
feeble-minded  children  were  born  so.  In  many  cases 
this  condition  has  resulted  from  scarlet  fever,  measles, 
brain  fever,  or  from  some  untoward  accident  or  injury. 
It  is  a  calamity  that  may  come  upon  any  one  at  any 
time  of  life,  but  of  course  the  greater  number  are  con- 
genitally  deficient.  In  either  event  the  state's  duty  is 
the  same.  It  is  to  bear  one  another's  burdens  when 
the  individual  burden  is  too  great  to  be  borne. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
SOME  INSTITUTIONS  FOR  THE  FEEBLE-MINDED. 

It  will  be  impossible  to  fully  describe  all  the  institu 
tions  I  visited  that  are  devoted  to  the  care  of  feeble 
minded  persons,  but  I  shall  point  out  some  of  the  salient 
features  of  some  of  them.  There  are  many  in  the 
country  that  I  did  not  so  much  as  catch  a  glimpse  of, 
but  those  mentioned  here  rank  well  toward  the  front 
so  far  as  common  reputation  goes. 

At  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana— This  institution  was  estab 
lished  in  1879  and  contained  1042  patients  on  the  day 
of  my  visit.  Children  are  received  between  6  and  16 
years  of  age,  women  between  16  and  45.  The  children 
are  admitted  voluntarily,  but  the  women  are  committed 
by  order  of  court.  Seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  inmates 
are  regarded  as  teachable  and  for  their  instruction 
twelve  teachers  are  employed.  California,  with  more 
than  half  as  many  patients,  has,  until  very  recently, 
had  but  two  teachers  and  now  has  but  three. 

All  teaching  of  the  feeble-minded  must  be  individual, 


SOME  INSTITUTIONS  FOR  THE  FEEBLE-MINDED.  105 

1)1  it  even  at  Fort  Wayne  each  teacher  has  26  to  30 
children  in  her  charge  each  half  day,  or  52  to  60  during 
the  entire  day,  for  there  are  half-day  sessions.  No 
teacher  should  have  above  12  or  15  feeble-minded 
children  in  hand  at  a  time,  or  24  to  30  in  a  day.  The 
children  are  taught  reading  and  writing  and  simple 
numbers.  They  forget  what  they  do  not  use.  The 
object  in  this  institution  is  to  educate  to  the  point  of 
happiness,  but  not  beyond  it,  to  the  point  of  dissatis 
faction  with  life. 

This  institution  makes  and  repairs  with  the  labor  of 
its  inmates  all  the  shoes  required,  makes  all  the  boys' 
clothing  and  all  the  clothing  for  the  girls  except  the 
knit  goods.  The  boys  make  their  own  clothes  except 
shirts,  which  the  girls  make  for  them.  A  farm  of  308 
acres  of  good  land,  and  97  acres  more  rented,  is  suc 
cessfully  cultivated  by  the  men  and  boys  with  only 
enough  hired  labor  to  direct  the  work.  There  are  100 
in  the  working  force.  There  are  nine  industrial  teachers 
besides  those  above  mentioned. 

At  Elwyn,  Pennsylvania— This  is  one  of  the  biggest 
and  best  known  institutions  for  the  care  of  feeble 
minded  persons  in  this  country  and  it  enjoys  a  de 
servedly  high  reputation.  I  found  here  1059  charges 
upon  337  acres  of  land.  Of  these,  500  were  in  the  train 
ing  department,  and  100  others  were  being  trained 
outside  of  the  training  department.  I  found,  however, 
three  cottages  filled  with  cases  classed  as  custodial, 
and,  if  I  am  not  greatly  deceived,  about  two-fifths  of 
the  total  population  is  set  down  as  custodial  and  not 
susceptible  of  being  taught.  How  greatly  this  differs 
from  some  other  institutions  will  be  seen  farther  on. 

I  think  that  this  is  the  principal,  and  perhaps  the 
only,  criticism  that  Elwyn  deserves — that  it  classes  as 
custodial  a  very  large  number  of  its  wards  that  might 
have  been  lifted  greatly  above  that  disgusting  and 
almost  intolerable  grade  known  as*  custodial.  Admis 
sions  are  from  7  to  14  years,  but  the  inmates  may  re- 


106  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

main  for  life  when  once  admitted.  There  are  between 
1000  and  1500  on  the  waiting  list.  About  one-third 
of  the  inmates  attend  school,  and  for  their  instruction 
twenty  teachers  are  employed.  Sloyd  in  various  forms 
constitutes  the  basis  of  instruction,  and  a  good  deal 
of  mechanical  ability  and  skill  are  developed.  In  fact, 
Elwyn  can  show  a  higher  degree  of  attainment  along 
this  line  than  perhaps  any  other  similar  institution  in 
America,  but  a  high  average  is  attained  more  through 
lifting  the  few  quite  high  than  through  lifting  the 
entire  mass  above  the  custodial  line. 

There  is  much  of  hammock-making,  carpet-weaving 
of  Norwegian  tapestry,  basketry  and  the  making  of 
mattresses  and  of  such  furniture  as  the  institution  re 
quires.  Many  can  do  this  work  who  can  not  be  taught 
to  read  or  to  w^rite.  The  custodial  cases  on  the  male 
wards  are  handled  by  men  and  their  wives,  a  system 
that  works  well  and  makes  for  improved  behavior. 

New  Jersey  Training  School  for  Feeble-Minded— 

There  are  two  state  institutions  for  the  care  of  the 
feeble-minded  at  Vineland,  New  Jersey,  just  across  the 
road  from  each  other.  One  is  for  young  women,  which 
will  be  mentioned  in  the  next  chapter,  and  one  for 
feeble-minded  boys  and  girls.  I  found  here  350  in 
mates,  occupying  twelve  industrial  and  other  buildings 
and  eight  residence  cottages.  This  institution  is  owned 
and  conducted  by  a  benevolent  association,  and  the 
state  boards  its  feeble-minded  wards  with  it  at  $275 
per  child  per  year  for  custodial  cases.  If  the  inmate 
be  self-supporting  the  state  pays  nothing  for  its  sup 
port  ;  if  partially  so  the  state  pays  such  a  part  of  its 
support  as  may  be  agreed  upon.  Some  are  paid  for 
as  low  as  $25  per  year,  and  quite  a  number  at  $50,  and 
so  on  up  to  $275,  which  is  the  limit.  The  ages  of  ad 
mission  are  5  to  21  years,  but  some  women  are  admitted 
older  than  that.  The  institution  has  a  farm  of  200 
acres  and  it  yields  an  income  of  $10,000  to  $11,000  a 
year,  almost  wholly  with  inmate  labor. 


SOME  INSTITUTIONS  FOR  THE  FEEBLE-MINDED.          107 

This  institution  is  intensely  alive.  Its  superintendent, 
Mr.  Edward  R.  Johnstone,  has  organized  a  staff  of  con 
sulting  psychologists,  which  holds  regular  sessions  at 
the  school  for  the  study  of  the  phenomenon  of  feeble 
mindedness.  He  has  also  organized  a  summer  school 
for  teachers  who  are  to  work  with  backward  children 
in  cities,  to  the  end  that  they  may  observe  the  processes 
of  mental  development  among  feeble-minded  where  the 
processes  of  mental  unfoldment  are  so  slow  as  to  be 
readily  perceived.  This  has  proven  very  helpful  to 
teachers  engaged  in  that  much-needed  work. 

Although  the  inmates  of  this  institution  are  all  so 
feeble-minded  as  to  be  incapable  of  intelligent  self- 
direction,  they  are  made  the  most  of  that  the  material 
will  allow.  The  system  of  discipline  is  based  entirely 
upon  rewards,  but  not  at  all  upon  punishments,  and 
for  five  years  no  child  has  been  whipped.  It  is  be 
lieved  that  thirty  per  cent  of  all  the  inmates  can  be 
made  self-sustaining  after  ten  years  of  training,  but,  as 
previously  stated,  not  self-directing.  Not  over  one- 
sixth  are  purely  custodial.  All  must  be  kept  going. 
Without  tireless  enthusiasm  everything  will  come  to 
a  full  stop.  There  is  no  resting  on  the  oars  in  that 
institution. 

A  unique  feature  of  the  educational  department  is 
a  well-equipped  zoo  of  all  the  more  common  live  things 
that  live  in  the  country,  and  some  that  do  not.  There 
are  monkeys,  badgers,  squirrels,  coons,  many  kinds  of 
birds,  etc.  The  children  are  made  acquainted  with 
them  all,  to  the  great  stimulation  of  their  interest  and 
intellectual  activity. 

The  industrial  feature  is  very  strong  and  intelligent, 
but,  during  the  growing  season,  all  else  except  the  mere 
supplying  of  daily  wants  is  laid  aside  for  the  pushing 
of  the  farm  work.  The  boys  handle  the  farm  proper, 
the  girls  the  vegetable  garden  and  orchard.  This  is 
much  better  for  them  than  shop  work,  which  is  done 
up  in  winter. 

Another  feature  not  by  any  means  to  be  overlooked 


108  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

is  the  store.  What  are  known  as  "o.  k."  slips,  de 
noting  good  conduct,  are  translatable  into  currency  of 
,  that  realm  of  graded  values,  according  to  conduct,  of 
one  cent  to  seven  cents  for  a  definite  time.  The  store 
is  opened  for  a  part  of  a  day  every  so  often,  and  the 
children  with  good  slips  are  able  to  buy  such  things 
as  appeal  to  their  childish  fancies.  If  they  have  not 
been  good,  and  have  not  put  forth  effort,  they  can  not 
buy;  if  they  have,  they  can.  It  pays  to  be  good  and, 
feeble-minded  though  they  be,  the  inmates  not  infre 
quently  husband  their  savings  against  the  time  when 
they  shall  have  enough  to  purchase  some  one  thing  of 
great  desire.  "Honorable  mention"  is  another  stimu 
lant  to  mental  and  moral  exertion,  and  the  few  who  get 
the  most  honorable  mentions  in  the  year  are  taken  to 
Philadelphia  to  see  the  wonders  of  the  great  city. 

The  Vineland  institution  is  a  beehive  of  activity  and 
originality,  and  there  is  small  reason  to  doubt  that  it 
is  making  of  its  charges  about  as  much  as  the  material 
that  God  put  into  them  will  allow.  The  custodial  con 
tingent  is  reduced  to  a  very  low,  if  not  to  the  lowest, 
possible  terms. 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

FROM  WAVERLY  TO  TEMPLETON. 

If  a  special  chapter  be  devoted  to  the  Massachusetts 
system  of  caring  for  the  feeble-minded  it  is  because, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  the  system  deserves  it  as 
pointing  the  way  toward  better  things  for- the  feeble 
minded  wards  of  the  several  states. 

At  Waverly— The  parent  institution  is  at  Waverly, 
a  few  miles  out  of  Boston.  It  is  splendidly  located, 
well  equipped  with  model  buildings  of  substantial  con 
struction  and  has  a  housing  capacity  sufficient  for  per 
haps  900  inmates  and  100  or  more  attendants.  The 
demand  for  admissions  far  exceeds  the  power  to  ac 
commodate,  for  it  has  been  estimated  that  there  are 


FROM    WAVKRLY    TO    TKMPLETON.  10!) 

20,000  feeble-minded  persons  in  Massachusetts.  The 
whole  institution,  together  with  the  colony  at  Temple- 
ton,  is  under  the  immediate  charge  of  Dr.  Walter  E. 
Fernald,  whom  Massachusetts  imported  from  Wisconsin 
because  he  had  made  a  reputation  in  his  own  state. 

The  institution  is  on  state  land,  and  mainly  supported 
by  state  money,  but  it  is  managed  largely  through  the 
original  benevolent  corporation  that  entered  upon  the 
work  in  the  days  of  the  beneficent  activities  of  Dr. 
Samuel  G.  Howe.  The  state  appoints  six  directors  and 
the  corporation  six.  But  two  changes  in  the  directorate 
can  be  made  each  two  years,  and  so  no  radical  changes 
take  place.  Some  men  are  on  the  board  whose  grand 
fathers  were  there  before  them,  and  their  own  fathers, 
too.  The  success  of  the  institution  is,  to  them,  a  matter 
of  pride  and  of  love  for  defenseless  humanity.  It  is  all 
outside  of  politics. 

The  Educational  Work— The  educational  work  is 
carried  on  in  this  institution  very  much  as  it  is  in  the 
public  schools,  except  that  it  is  all  individual,  and 
except  that  the  feebleness  of  mind  and  dullness  of 
mental  perception  make  progress  slow,  and  cause  inter 
minable  drafts  upon  the  patience  and  the  integrity  of 
the  teachers.  Nowhere  else  have  I  seen  such  devotion 
as  is  daily  manifested  here.  Of  1015  inmates  only 
betwreen  45  and  50,  through  sickness  or  idiocy,  were 
classed  as  of  so  low  grade  that  nothing  could  be  given 
them  in  the  way  of  instruction  or  training  for  lifting 
them  above  their  lowly  condition.  A  dog  could  be 
taught  in  a  tenth  of  the  time  to  do  certain  things  that 
these  children  must  be  taught  to  do  and  understand 
if  they  are  to  be  lifted  above  the  lowliest  of  God's 
sentient  beings. 

The  Kindergarten — The  first  step  toward  enlighten 
ment  consists  in  being  made  to  discriminate  between  a 
red  ball  and  a  blue  or  white  one,  go  get  it  when  it  has 
been  rolled  across  the  courtyard,  and  fetch  it  back  to 
the  teacher.  Perhaps  a  hundred  times  the  child  must 


110  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

be  taken  by  the  hand  by  the  teacher  and  be  made  to 
run  after  the  ball,  have  it  put  into  its  hand,  be  run 
back  with,  and  then  start  again  the  same  way,  before 
the  child  will  gain  intelligence  enough  to  go  after  it  of 
its  own  accord,  pick  up  its  own  ball  and  not  another's, 
and  bring  it  back.  This  accomplished,  it  is  made  to 
see  if  it  can  not  do  it  quicker  than  another  child.  When 
Johnny  has  accomplished  that  feat  the  news  spreads 
all  over  the  institution  and  there  is  great  joy  from  the 
superintendent  down.  Another  exercise,  and  education 
is  to  first  pile  a  lot  of  convenient  sized  stones  around 
a  tree  in  pyramidal  form,  and  then  move  them,  -on  a 
succeeding  day,  and  put  them  around  another  tree. 
All  that  is  done  is  done  under  the  stimulus  of  a  "hurrah 
boys,  hurry,  hurry,  hurry-up"  spirit,  of  which  no  one 
but  a  woman  teacher  is  capable.  The  kindergarten 
laboratory  contains  perhaps  $1500  worth  of  contriv 
ances  calculated  to  awaken  interest  in  a  childish  mind 
and  so  teach  it  to  discriminate  between  colors,  forms 
and  feelings  to  the  sense  of  touch. 

Elemental  Educational  Work— Here  we  see  the  pro 
cesses  of  the  education  of  the  human  mind  laid  bare, 
link  by  link,  step  by  step.  The  agencies  employed,  and 
which  must  find  place  in  all  educational  processes,  are 
physical  training,  competitive  play  and  manual  train 
ing.  The  running  after  the  balls  thrown  across  the 
courtyard,  the  carrying  of  the  stones  from  tree  to  tree, 
brings  the  muscles,  that  have  been  little  used,  into 
action  and  strengthens  them.  The  effort  to  do  the 
thing  quicker  than  another  child  sharpens  the  wits 
and  excites  enthusiasm.  Finally,  the  manual  training, 
which  follows  through  the  course,  trains  the  hand  and 
eye  and  stimulates  mental  activity  through  motor 
centers. 

The  Result — By  this  course  of  training,  in  a  hundred 
varied  forms  I  have  no  space  for  describing,  the  feeble 
minded  misfits  of  nature  are  strengthened  in  mind  and 
body  until,  as  a  whole,  they  are  able  to  provide  for 


FROM    WAVKUI.Y    TO   TEMPLETON.  Ill 

nearly  all  of  the  needs  of  the  community  save  the 
creation  of  the  raw  materials.  The  girls  make  the 
clothes  for  the  whole  thousand  and  more,  keep  them 
in  repair,  and  do  the  laundry  work.  The  boys  do  the 
shoe-making,  printing,  carpentering,  painting,  garden- 
making,  and  take  care  of  the  grounds.  All  wash  dishes, 
make  beds,  scrub  floors,  and  the  brighter  ones  help  to 
take  care  of  those  not  so  bright.  Only  the  best  trained 
teachers  are  given  places  in  the  institution.  The  duller 
the  child  the  better  the  teachers  must  be,  and  the  more 
love  and  enthusiasm  must  they  have  for  their  work. 

Templeton— Every  institution  that  receives  young 
persons  for  life  custody  will,  if  it  makes  no  provision 
for  an  outlet,  inevitably  become  clogged  with  unteach- 
able,  unprogressive  and  practically  dead  human  timber. 
To  furnish  an  outlet  for  at  least  the  male  product  of 
this  institution  the  state  of  Massachusetts,  some  years 
since,  purchased  2000  acres  of  practically  abandoned 
farms  in  the  north-central  part  of  the  commonwealth. 
The  old  buildings  were  renovated,  and  new  ones  erected 
necessary  for  the  care  and  comfort  of  fifty  adult,  male 
feeble-minded  at  each  homestead  of  fifty  acres  or  so. 
It  is  costing  about  $10,000  to  make  ready  at  each  place 
and  there  are  now  four  homesteads  in  operation.  Some 
time  there  may  be  a  score  or  more  of  them.  There  is 
plenty  of  rough  work  for  the  men  to  do,  such  as  blast 
ing  out  rocks  and  hauling  them  from  the  fields,  making 
roads,  clearing  up  the  underbrush,  cultivating  the 
ground,  caring  for  the  stock,  etc.  And  there  they  are 
to  spend  their  lives  under  careful  superintendence, 
but  practically  paying  their  own  way—"  pulling  their 
own  weight,"  as  President  Roosevelt  would  express  it. 
Better  men  than  they  have,  for  two  centuries,  given 
their  lives  to  the  cultivation  of  these  farms,  and  why 
not  these  feeble-minded  wards  of  the  state?  They  are 
healthy,  they  are  happy,  they  are  in  the  care  of  a  good 
man  and  wife  and  three  assistant  attendants  and,  if 
they  go  to  bed  good  and  tired  at  night,  it  is  to  fall 


112  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

to  sleep  without  those  evil  practices  which  otherwise 
make  institutional  life  bestial  beyond  endurance. 
Judged  by  any  standard  I  know  anything  of,  the 
Massachusetts  system  of  caring  for  the  feeble-minded 
is  exemplary.  Nothing  for  show,  everything  for  com 
fort,  intellectual  and  moral  development  and  for 
genuine  utility. 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
THE  FEEBLE-MINDED  WOMAN. 

Of  all  forms  of  human  prey  the  most  pitifully  helpless 
and  certain  of  destruction  is  the  feeble-minded  girl  so 
near  the  border  line  of  normal  mentality  as  not  to  be 
altogether  repulsive,  yet  so  feeble  in  intellect  and 
understanding  as  to  be  incapable  of  the  exercise  of  any 
resistant  strength  of  will.  There  are  many  such  in 
every  commonwealth  and  their  progeny  is  legion  and 
are  to  be  found  in  every  form  of  institutional  life  from 
homes  for  the  feeble-minded  to  prison  house  and  insane 
asylum.  They  fall  into  the  arms  of  the  most  depraved 
of  men  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  offspring 
of  imbecility  mated  with  criminality.  The  elemental 
principle  of  self-preservation  demands  that  organized 
society  find  some  way  to  sequester  feeble-minded  women 
of  child-bearing  age  so  that  they  shall  be  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  opposite  sex,  at  least  during  the  child- 
bearing  period  of  their  lives.  The  belated  world  is 
only  just  moving  in  that  direction,  and  it  would  seem 
that  California  should  at  least  manage  to  keep  up  with 
the  procession. 

Harper  Lodge— Indiana  has  begun  to  do  something 
in  the  direction  of  sequestering  feeble-minded  women 
of  child-bearing  age  by  the  establishment  of  Harper 
Lodge,  as  it  is  called,  at  Fort  Wayne,  as  an  adjunct  to 
the  State  Home  for  Feeble-Minded  Children.  I  found 
there  130  women  unmistakably  feeble-minded,  but  of 
so  low  a  grade  that  it  would  seem  as  though  their 
natural  repulsiveness  should  have  been  their  ample 


THE   FEEBLE-MINDED   WOMAN.  113 

protection,  but  such  had  not  proven,  to  be  the  case. 
M«-my  of  them  had  become  mothers  already  and  their 
progeny  were  in  the  adjacent  institution. 

These  women  are  committed  to  the  institution  by  the 
courts  between  the  ages  of  16  and  45,  are  well  cared 
for,  are  employed  in  housekeeping  and  gardening  and 
are  well  off  if  not  very  contented  or  happy.  The  trouble 
with  this  institution  is  that  its  inmates  are  of  a  grade 
so  low  that  they  should  have  been  in  the  adjacent 
institution  from  childhood.  That  isn't  going  far 
enough.  The  line  needs  to  be  drawn  much  closer  to 
the  line  of  normality,  but  Indiana  has  made  a  start  in 
the  right  direction  while  California  has  not  made  even 
a  conscious  start,  although  a  few  women  of  that  char 
acter  are  confined  in  the  Home  at  Eldridge,  which 
hardly  knows  what  to  do  with  them  because  not  pre 
pared  for  them. 

The  New  Jersey  Home  for  Feeble-Minded  Women— 

Vineland,  New  Jersey,  has  two  institutions  for  the  care 
of  feeble-minded  persons,  just  across  the  road  from 
each  other.  The  one  for  children  has  already  been 
described.  The  one  for  the  care  and  training  of  feeble 
minded  women  is  now  seventeen  years  old,  has  well- 
appointed  buildings  and  about  150  inmates  under  the 
care  of  a  woman  physician  and  superintendent.  I  saw 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  inmates,  and  quite  a 
number  of  them  seemed  to  me  to  be  distinctly  high- 
grade  imbeciles,  not  very  far  below  the  normality  line 
in  a  good  many  instances.  Still,  the  institution  is 
more  of  a  school  than  of  a  permanent  home  through 
the  child-bearing  period  and  therefore  falls  short  of 
the  essential  purpose  which  New  Jersey  should  have 
in  view. 

Other  States— New  York  has  a  large  institution  for 
women  of  this  class,  but  I  was  not  able  to  visit  it. 
Massachusetts  has  set  apart  one  building  for  the  ac 
commodation  of  this  class  at  Waverly,  but  that  is  an 
altogether  insufficient  provision.  Many,  if  not  most, 


114  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

of  the  inmates  of  this  cottage  had  made  criminal  records 
before  being  sequestered  and  are  hard  to  handle  under 
existing  conditions  at  Waverly. 

The  Plain  Need — The  plain  need  is  that  such  women 
be  gathered  together  by  every  state  in  the  Union  where 
they  can  be  preserved  from  harm,  but  where  they  can 
be  employed  for  their  own  and  the  public  advantage. 
They  need  to  be  protected  from  harm  and  the  state 
needs  to  be  protected  from  them.  They  should  be 
made  readily  self-sustaining  as  far  as  earning  capacity 
is  concerned.  As  it  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  a 
state  will  establish  independent  institutions  at  the  out 
set,  they  should  at  least  establish  adjuncts  to  homes 
already  in  existence  similar  to  Harper  Lodge  at  Fort 
Wayne.  I  recommend  this  policy  to  California  and 
suggest  that  a  cottage  be  built  at  Eldridge,  at  some 
distance  from  the  other  group  of  buildings,  to  be  main-' 
tained  under  the  same  general  management,  and  that 
the  inmates  be  established  in  the  business  of  manu 
facturing  hosiery  on  a  basis  that  will  give  them  an 
individual  earning  power  above  the  cost  of  their  mainte 
nance.  It  will  cost  something  at  the  start,  but  every 
dollar  expended  will  be  saved  a  hundredfold  in  the 
consequent  diminution  of  crime  and  pauperism  in  the 
future. 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 
EPILEPSY. 

Epilepsy  has  been  described  to  me  as  an  explosion 
of  the  vital  forces  of  the  body  that  should  have  lasted 
all  day  if  consumed  gradually  as  the  demands  of  life 
required.  We  are  all  of  us  possible  epileptics.  A  con 
dition  of  affairs  is  conceivable  which  might  cause  any 
individual  to  suffer  a  seizure,  but  in  most  cases  that 
consummation  is  not  at  all  probable.  Epilepsy  is  not 
believed  to  be  a  disease  so  much  as  a  symptom  of  a 
disease  one  of  whose  manifestations  is  a  sudden  libera 
tion  of  vital  forces  needful  for  orderly  living. 


EPILEPSY.  11-") 

Science  Hard  at  Work--  There  is  a  great  deal  that 
science  does  not  know  about  epilepsy,  but  it  does  not 
confess  itself  baffled.  At  the  Craig  Colony,  New  York, 
an  expert  pathologist  is  doing  nothing  but  studying 
epilepsy  in  all  its  forms  and  details,  cellular  con§truc- 
tion,  digestive  juices,  the  constitution  of  the  blood 
and  the  brain  and  whatever  else  he  can  get  hold  of 
relating  to  the  subject.  Perhaps  nothing  very  pro 
nounced  has  been  gained  yet,  but  it  is  not  improbable 
that  the  mystery  of  acquired  epilepsy  may  be  solved. 

Hereditary  Tendency—  While  the  life  histories  of 
epileptics  are  not  so  fully  and  certainly  obtained  as  to 
be  of  great  scientific  accuracy,  still  they  are  of  value 
and  suffice  to  show  that  the  epileptics  of  one  generation 
are  very  often,  if  not  always,  the  progeny  of  a  preceding 
generation  of  alcoholics,  epileptics  or  insane  persons. 
In  all  56  per  cent  of  1070  cases  studied  at  Craig  Colony 
showed  parental  responsibility  in  some  direct  way,  as, 
for  instance,  16  per  cent  by  direct  heredity  from  epi 
leptics,  14  per  cent  from  alcoholics,  9  per  cent  from 
insanity  in  parents  and  13  per  cent  had  parents  who 
were  tuberculous.  In  50  cases  out  of  508  examined 
epilepsy  had  been  brought  upon  the  patient  by  his 
abuse  of  alcoholic  beveraes. 


The  Epileptic  Colony  Idea—  Most  states  have  their 
epileptics  scattered,  as  California  has,  through  all  their 
public  institutions.  They  are  to  be  found  in  orphan 
ages,  reform  schools,  prisons,  many  of  them  at  the 
Home  for  Feeble-blinded,  and  very  many  of  them  in 
all  of  the  hospitals  for  the  insane.  New  York  and 
Massachusetts,  at  least,  have  undertaken  to  gather 
them  together  in  colonies  where  they  can  be  separated 
into  classes,  with  regard  to  feeble-mindedness,  insanity, 
criminality  and  normality,  too,  for  many  are  much  like 
other  people  only  that  they  are  subject  to  this  distress 
ing  affliction.  By  bringing  them  together  in  that  way 
they  can  be  studied  to  better  advantage,  they  are  less 


116  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

of  an  affliction  to  others,  and  often  something  of  a 
comfort  to  each  other.  The  colony  idea  is  at  once  an 
economical,  humane  and  practical  method  of  caring 
for  these  unfortunates,  and  the  time  will  come  when 
California  will  feel  the  necessity,  and  the  moral  prompt 
ings,  for  establishing  an  epileptic  colony  for  the  relief 
of  the  other  institutions  and  the  welfare  of  the  epi 
leptics  themselves. 

Craig  Colony  at  Sonyea,  New  York— This  is  the 
largest,  and  perhaps  the  most  noted  institution  of  its 
kind  in  the  United  States.  It  is  located  about  forty 
miles  south  of  Rochester  on  a  tract  of  2000  acres  of 
land  that  once  constituted  a  Shaker  settlement.  The 
land  is  good  and  yields  a  return  of  about  $35,000  a 
year  toward  the  support  of  the  institution,  which  cares 
for  1200  patients  now,  but  will  be  able  to  care  for 
2000.  There  are  believed  to  be  14,000  epileptics  in 
New  York  state. 

There  are  about  sixty  buildings  on  the  place,  and 
will  be  seventy  when  the  plans  are  finished.  There  are 
thirty-odd  cottages  for  patients.  The  average  per 
capita  cost  last  year  was  $164.  The  state  bears  the 
whole  cost  save  as  certain  ones  prefer  to  make  a  con 
tribution  toward  their  own  support  in  order  to  take 
off  the  taint  of  indigency. 

Less  than  l1/^  per  cent  come  to  the  institution  while 
the  disease  is  in  an  acute,  and  before  it  reaches  the 
chronic,  form.  However,  7  per  cent  of  the  chronic 
cases  have  been  sent  out  as  cured.  This  constitutes 
15  per  cent  after  deducting  the  imbeciles  and  dements 
whose  brains  have  been  irreparably  injured.  Dr. 
Spratling,  the  superintendent,  is  of  opinion  that  25 
per  cent  of  all  committed  could  be  cured  if  they  could 
be  taken  in  hand  in  the  early  stages  of  the  disease. 
Ninety  per  cent  have  their  minds  more  or  less  affected 
by  the  disease,  but  only  about  3  or  4  per  cent  terminate 
in  a  continuous  and  active  insanitv. 


EPILEPSY.  117 

Palmer  Colony — This  is  the  Massachusetts  colony 
for  epileptics  near  the  town  of  Palmer.  There  were 
550  patients  there  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  all  over  14 
years  of  age,  and  nearly  all  therefore  chronic  cases. 
This  deprives  the  institution  of  its  best  opportunity  to 
study  the  disease  in  its  acute  form,  and  to  effect  en 
couraging  cures.  In  Massachusetts  those  who  are  able 
to  do  so  pay  $5  per  week  for  treatment,  those  who  are 
indigent  are  paid  for  by  the  towns  from  whence  they 
come  at  $3.25  per  week,  and  the  state  pays  for  the 
epileptic  insane  only.  The  institution  at  Palmer  has 
500  acres  of  rather  rough  land,  a  group  of  good  central 
buildings  and  a  number  of  outlying  cottages  accommo 
dating  30  or  35  patients  each.  There  is  one  attendant 
for  each  twelve  or  fifteen  patients.  Of  the  550  patients 
here  only  25  are  looked  upon  as  really  hopeful  of  being 
permanently  cured,  and  only  two  have,  in  eight  years, 
been  discharged  as  permanently  cured. 

Hospital  at  Baldwins ville— There  is  a  hospital  at 
Baldwinsville  where  the  state  boards  some  of  its 
epileptics  under  14  years  of  age.  It  is  well  appointed 
and  Dr.  Page,  its  superintendent,  seems  to  take  a  most 
lively  interest  in  the  cases  in  hand.  He  gets  cases 
relatively  early  in  their  epileptic  history,  but  still  not 
as  early  as  he  thinks  he  should  receive  them.  At  all 
events  he  has  a  better  chance  to  effect  cures  than  they 
have  at  the  Palmer  Colony,  where  only  chronic  cases  are 
received.  Still,  he  can  boast  of  no  more  than  10  per 
cent  of  cures  and,  to  do  this,  he  has  to  call  a  child 
cured  who  has  not  had  a  seizure  for  a  year  and  wTho 
has  been  otherwise  perfectly  well.  It  was  admitted 
that  medical  treatment  accomplished  relatively  little, 
but  that  regimen  and  diet  are  more  to  be  relied  on  than 
medicine,  although  bromides  are  used  with  good  effect. 

Self -Control  Best— Drs.  Flood,  of  Palmer,  and  Page, 
of  Baldwinsville,  coincided  in  the  view  that  a  studious 
and  well-trained  self-control  holds  out  most  hope  for 


118  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

epileptics.  They  can  bring  seizures  on  by  caprice,  and 
by  self-control  they  can  ward  them  off,  especially  in 
youth,  but  parents  humor  their  epileptic  children  so 
universally  that  they  are  seldom  schooled  in  even  the 
elements  of  self-control. 

Operations  Futile— From  persons  with  whom  I  con 
versed  I  found  little  reliance  placed  upon  surgical 
operations.  Sometimes  the  shock  of  the  operation  post 
pones  seizures  for  a  season,  but  surgeons  seldom  have 
any  idea  of  what  they  expect  to  find  when  they  have 
operated  and,  more  often  than  otherwise,  merely  go 
into  the  cranial  cavity  to  see  if  they  may  not  blunder 
on  to  something.  This  is  intensely  unscientific  and 
savors  of  quackery. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 
THE  DEAF. 

There  is  one  deaf  person  in  each  1500  in  the  United 
States.  Some  were  born  deaf,  some  were  born  to 
become  deaf  and  some  were  rendered  deaf  through 
such  diseases  as  scarlet  fever,  measles  and,  in  later 
years,  cerebro-spinal  meningitis,  which  formerly  ter 
minated  fatally,  but  now  spares  the  life,  often  leaving 
the  patient  bereft  of  one  or  more  of  his  senses.  What 
ever  the  cause,  the  affliction  is  calamitous  and  the  un 
fortunate  victim  must  live,  to  a  great  degree,  a  shut-in 
life.  Without  language  a  human  being  is  almost  a 
hermit,  no  matter  if  he  live  in  the  heart  of  a  great  city. 
The  crux  of  the  problem  of  teaching  the  deaf  is  to 
enable  them  to  get  a  good  understanding  of  language 
of  some  sort.  There  are  several  ways  of  doing  this, 
which  will  be  separately,  although  briefly,  considered. 

The  Sign  Language— This  was  the  invention  of  Abbe 
de  1'Epee,  in  1775,  creating  almost  as  if  by  magic,  a 
language  of  some  four  hundred  words  aside  from 


THE  DEAF.     X^  119 

proper  names.  There  are  many  hearing  persons  who 
use  hardly  more  words  than  that,  but  of  course  they 
are  ignorant  persons  and  have  few  ideas  to  convey. 
Nearly  all  deaf  persons,  mute  because  deaf,  use  more 
or  less  of  the  sign  language.  Children,  in  their  plays, 
make  up  their  own  signs  and  will  use  them  in  spite 
of  the  opposition  of  their  teachers,  because  quicker 
and  more  convenient.  The  sign  language  is  also  useful 
in  talking  to  an  audience  of  deaf  persons  too  far 
away  to  see  the  movements  of  the  lips  in  speaking, 
or  of  the  fingers  in  the  manual  alphabet.  Therefore, 
something  of  the  sign  language  gets  into  all  systems  of 
teaching  the  deaf,  if  not  in  the  schoolroom,  then  on  the 
playground.  It  is  rapidly  learned  by  deaf  persons 
trained  to  sagacity  in  such  matters,  but  as  for  the 
writer,  although  he  has  seen  several  discourses  in  the 
sign  language,  he  could  make  little  out  of  them. 

The  Manual  Alphabet— This  language  is  based  on 
the  alphabet  which  we  all  of  us  use  in  reading  and  writ 
ing,  save  that  the  letters  are  made  with  the  fingers 
and  hands,  very  rapidly.  The  Rochester,  New  York, 
school  for  deaf  children  is  based  entirely  on  the  manual 
alphabet,  save  that  the  oral  method  is  also  employed, 
but  the  sign  language  is  discouraged  as  being  too 
limited  and  not  needed  if  the  manual  alphabet  is 
mastered. 

The  Oral  Method— This  is  based  on  lip  reading.  A 
careful  observation  of  the  positions  which  the  lips 
assume,  and  the  movements  of  the  vocal  chords  as  felt 
from  the  outside,  gives  such  a  clew  to  what  is  being 
said  that  an  adept  will  catch  the  spoken  words  from 
these  movements  without  hearing  a  sound.  Moreover, 
one  will  also  learn  to  repeat  the  sounds  after  some 
fashion  by  reproducing  the  same  lip  and  chord  motions. 
It  takes  much  time  and  infinite  patience  to  accomplish 
this,  and  not  many,  who  have  never  heard  sounds,  are 
equal  to  it,  but  some  are.  Generally,  their  voices  are 
pitched  in  a  strange  key  and  have  an  unearthly  tone, 


120  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

but  the  speakers  are  often  able  to  make  even  strangers 
understand,  and  most  of  the  students  will  get  so  that 
the  members  of  their  own  families  can  converse  with 
them  regularly.  This  is  a  great  comfort  and  con 
venience. 

Much  Controversy— I  visited  four  schools  for  the 
deaf  while  I  was  on  my  pilgrimage,  rather  celebrated 
ones,  the  school  at  Rochester,  at  Hartford,  at  New  York, 
and  at  Mount  Airy,  Pa.,  just  out  of  Philadelphia. 
There  are  seventy-five  such  schools  in  the  country,  so 
that  my  investigations  did  not  by  any  means  exhaust 
the  subject.  However,  I  found  much  tenacity  of  indi 
vidual  opinion,  and  not  much  agreement  as  to  method, 
but  a  kindly  feeling  for  those  with  whom  each  champion 
differed.  As  it  seemed  to  me,  all  the  schools  came  near 
to  using  all  the  methods  to  greater  or  less  extent.  At 
the  other  schools  the  consensus  of  opinion  seemed  to 
be  that  the  oral  method  hardly,  as  a  whole,  repaid  the 
intensity  of  effort  that  had  to  be  put  upon  it,  but  the 
school  at  Mount  Airy  was  firmly  of  the  opinion  that  it 
was  practically  the  only  method  worth  while. 

One  Point  of  Agreement— On  one  point  of  interest 
to  Calif ornians  I  found  unhesitating  agreement,  not 
only  in  the  schools  for  the  deaf,  but  also  for  the  blind, 
that  the  two  schools,  for  deaf  and  blind,  should  not  be 
combined  under  one  management.  All  testified  that 
there  was  a  mutual  antipathy  between  deaf  and  blind 
and  that  it  was  out  of  the  question  for  a  single  manage 
ment  to  maintain  enthusiasm  for  both  branches  of  the 
work  at  an  equal  intensity.  The  conviction  was  that 
the  blind  usually  were  the  sufferers.  If  the  two  classes 
of  children  come  into  contact  they  make  each  other 
unhappy  and  retard  each  other's  progress.  In  both 
cases  the  work  of  instructing  those  deprived  of  a  sense 
is  so  exacting  that  the  pupils  need  all  there  is  of  their 
instructors  or  superintendent — need  to  absorb  his  very 
being  in  order  to  reach  a  standard  of  attainment  that 
will  make  life  on  their  part  really  successful. 


THE  DEAF.  121 

What  California  Should  Do — So  long  as  Dr.  Warring 
Wilkinson  conducts  the  affairs  of  the  State  School  for 
the  Deaf  and  the  Blind  at  Berkeley  no  attempt  should 
be  made  to  divorce  the  two  departments  of  the  school, 
but  it  is  totally  improbable  that  the  state  will  be  able 
to  secure  a  successor  to  him  so  fully  equipped  as  he 
for  handling  both  departments  of  this  form  of  edu 
cational  work  and  it  will  be  to  the  best  interests, 
especially  of  the  blind,  to  divorce  the  two  and  estab 
lish  an  institution  for  the  blind  under  a  separate  man 
agement.  The  time  will  shortly  come  when  the  deaf 
will  be  able  to  utilize  all  there  is  of  the  present  insti 
tution  at  Berkeley.  It  is  devoutly  to  be  hoped, 
however,  that  the  day  of  Dr.  Wilkinson's  separation 
from  the  institution  as  it  is  may  be  far  in  the  future. 
I  found  that  all  of  those  whom  I  met,  connected  with 
educational  work,  either  of  the  blind  or  the  deaf, 
knew  Dr.  Wilkinson  in  person  and  by  reputation  and 
took  great  pleasure  in  commending  him  for  his  high 
character  and  distinguished  services  on  behalf  of  the 
afflicted.  But,  not  being  immortal,  in  the  flesh,  a  day 
of  separation  must  some  time  come  and  the  state 
should  be  looking  forward  toward  a  proper  policy  to 
be  pursued  when  that  event  unfortunately  transpires. 

Something  Out  of  the  Ordinary— At  the  great  insti 
tution  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson  in  New  York,  where, 
by  the  way,  our  own  good  Dr.  Wilkinson  found  the 
beginning  of  his  life  of  splendid  service  to  the  causes 
of  the  deaf  and  blind,  I  heard  something  that  I  should 
never  have  dreamed  of  hearing.  The  school  is  con 
ducted  on  the  military  system  and  many  trophies  have 
been  won  in  competition  with  crack  military  companies 
in  and  around  the  great  metropolis,  but  to  be  fully  up 
to  military  requirements  a  fife  and  drum  corps  was 
wanted.  With  an  enthusiasm  born  of  unbounded  con 
fidence  in  the  efficacy  of  training  one  of  the  officers  of 
the  institution  went  to  work  to  teach  the  deaf  boys  how 
to  play  the  fife,  beat  the  drum  and  blow  the  bugle. 
6 


122  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

It  was  a  hard  task,  but  it  was  completely  accomplished. 
A  better  fife  and  drum  corps,  or  better  bugle  calls,  I 
never  heard,  and  yet  an  even  half  of  the  ten  or  twelve 
players  hadn't  even  sound  perception,  and  the  others 
could  scarcely  tell  the  bugle  from  the  fife.  Verily, 
there  is  no  limit  to  what  training  of  ingenuous  youth 
may  accomplish. 

Science  Has  Done  Little— Science  can  boast  of  little 
in  the  way  of  restoring  hearing.  The  auditory  mechan 
isms  are  too  hard  to  be  gotten  at,  but  this  it  has  done : 
It  has  prevented  many  from  becoming  deaf  as  the  result 
of  disease.  Investigations  give  practically  the  same 
number  of  deaf  children  in  New  York  state  now  that 
there  were  thirty  years  ago,  and  yet  the  population  of 
the  state  has  doubled  meantime.  The  ounce  of  pre 
vention  has  proven  of  more  value  than  the  pound 
of  cure. 

Made  Self -Sustaining— There  is  no  trouble  about 
making  deaf  persons  self-sustaining.  Those  who  have" 
any  mechanical  ability  can  learn  trades  very  well, 
and  others  go  into  business  of  various  kinds.  The 
methods  of  training  in  their  school  life  require  a  good 
deal  of  manual  training  if  not  exactly  trade  school 
work,  and  some  of  the  schools  do  teach  such  trades  as 
printing,  carpentering,  tailoring,  and  general  house 
work,  dressmaking,  etc.  The  great  thing  is  to  enable 
the  deaf  person  to  so  communicate  with  his  fellows  as 
not  to  be  forced  to  live  a  shut-in,  and  therefore  unsatis 
factory,  existence. 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
LEADING  THE  BLIND. 

The  last  United  States  census  showed  one  blind 
person  in  the  Union  for  each  1818  seeing  persons. 
Some  of  these  were  born  blind,  some  were  born  to 
become  blind  and  very  many  were  made  blind  by  a 
blundering  want  of  care  at  birth.  If  the  mother  be 


LEADING  THE  BLIND.  123 

afflicted  with  any  one  of  a  number  of  blood  taints, 
and  the  eyes  be  not  at  once  cleansed  with  a  weak 
solution  of  boracic  acid,  or  some  other  cleanly  agent, 
blindness  is  not  unlikely  to  result  within  a  few  days,  or 
even  hours,  after  birth  from  the  poison.  For  this 
reason  physicians  in  attendance  at  childbirth  often 
wash  the  eyes  of  the  babe  as  soon  as  the  head  is  de 
livered  without  waiting  for  the  complete  birth  of  the 
baby.  The  result  of  this  care  is  greatly  to  diminish 
the  percentage  of  those  who  have  been  thought  to  have 
been  born  blind. 

Language  Easy— The  intellectual  education  of  the 
blind  is  a  much  simpler  matter  than  that  of  the  deaf, 
and.  for  the  reason  that  there  is  no  barrier  betwixt 
them  and  the  learning  of  their  mother  tongue.  They 
can  both  hear  and  talk  as  well  as  another.  On  the 
contrary,  perhaps  four-fifths  of  the  mental  effort  made 
by  the  deaf  is  expended  in  a  more  or  less  vain  effort 
to  grasp  the  full  meaning  and  import  of  words  and  the 
ability  to  use  them.  It  is  to  be  doubted  if  the  best 
educated  deaf  person  that  ever  was  really  grasped  the 
entire  significance  of  language. as  a  cultivated  hearing 
person  ordinarily  does.  The  mind  of  the  blind,  if  not 
the  vision,  is  at  least  open  and  this  facilitates  their 
education  immeasurably. 

Sense  Judgments  Difficult— Per  contra,  the  great 
struggle  of  the  blind  is  to  form  sense  judgments,  to 
come  into  an  appreciative  contact  with  the  real  things 
by  which  they  are  surrounded.  This  is  as  easy  to  the 
deaf  as  to  the  hearing,  but  it  is  more  difficult  for  the 
blind  than  it  is  for  the  deaf  to  learn  language,  and  the 
whole  range  of  color  is  shut  out  from  the  blind  for 
ever.  There  is  no  good  reason  Avhy  any  deaf  person, 
being  otherwise  well  endo\ved,  should  be  incapable  of 
self-support,  but  there  are  few  things  that  the  blind 
can  do  with  their  hands  in  competition  with  the  seeing, 
and  especially  in  competition  with  modern  labor-saving 
machinery.  Hence  their  industrial  education  is  diffi 
cult  and  not  very  encouraging. 


124  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

Manual  Training — In  the  institutions  for  the  educa 
tion  of  the  blind  which  I  visited  I  found  manual  train 
ing  occupying  a  very  pronounced  place  in  the  educa 
tional  course,  not  primarily  because  it  was  expected 
that  the  blind  would  learn  industrial  trades,  but  be 
cause  it  afforded  the  best  possible  education  in  the 
formation  of  sense  judgments  and  in  the  general  and 
accurate  use  of  the  members  of  the  body.  I  saw  sloyd 
models  worked  out  by  children  who  could  not  tell  day 
light  from  darkness  that  would  make  the  best  of  seeing 
children  look  to  their  laurels,  but,  of  course,  progress 
was  relatively  slow  and  the  demands  on  their  patience 
extreme.  That  is  one  thing  a  blind  person  must  learn— 
that  time  is  of  small  concern.  It  is  the  end  to  be 
attained  that  is  important.  Still,  the  enthusiasm  'for 
sloyd  work  among  blind  children  is  very  great. 

Competition — As  I  have  before  stated,  competition 
between  blind  fingers  and  the  fingers  of  those  who  can 
see  is  much  to  the  disadvantage  of  those  who  can  not 
see,  and  it  is  increasingly  and  most  discouragingly  so 
in  the  case  of  competition  with  modern  labor-saving 
machinery,  which  is  all  the  time  displacing  hands 
whether  seeing  or  not.  But  competition  in  the  realm 
of  intellectual  life  is  scarcely  less  severe.  Because  one 
is  blind  it  does  not  follow  that  his  intellectual  endow 
ment  is  any  more  liberal  than  that  of  ordinary  mortals. 
The  sense  of  touch  may  become  much  more  acute  than 
with  those  who  see,  and  the  sense  of  hearing  may  also 
become  more  finely  attuned,  but  blindness  is  a.  barrier 
to  the  full  development  of  the  intellectual  life,  because 
it  is,  to  the  extent  of  blindness,  shut  out  from  the 
means  by  which  intellectuality  is  developed.  Here 
and  there  a  blind  person  is  able  to  make  his  way  in 
the  world  by  his  wits,  as  here  and  there  one  may  with 
his  hands,  but  the  rule  is  to  the  contrary.  It  is  hard 
for  the  blind  to  become  fully  self-sustaining  if  sustained 
according  to  a  fair  standard  of  living  such  as  seeing 
persons  from  similar  walks  of  life  are  permitted  to 


LKVDING  THE  BLIND.  125 

enjoy.     Some   do   accomplish   it,   and   education   in   a 
school  for  the  blind  is  a  wonderful  aid  in  that  direction. 

Some  Interesting  Figures— Dr.  Wait,  of  the  New 
York  Institute  for  the  Blind,  has  made  some  investi 
gations  of  a  statistical  nature  that  are  of  great  interest, 
and  I  am  indebted  to  him  for  the  figures  here  given. 

Of  all  the  blind  persons  in  the  United  States,  as  re 
ported  by  the  United  States  census,  6  to  7  per  cent* are 
under  10  years  of  age,  and  12  to  13  per  cent  are  between 
10  and  20  years  old.  This  makes  about  20  per  cent  that 
are  of  school  age;  school  age  in  institutions  for  the 
blind  running  from  6  to  21  or  22  years  of  age.  Of  all 
those  between  these  ages  less  than  one-half  are  attend 
ing  schools  for  the  blind.  This  is  a  great  wrong  on  the 
part  of  society  and  not  at  all  creditable  to  our  civiliza 
tion.  If,  as  we  have  reason  to  suppose,  there  are  80,000 
blind  persons  in  the  United  States,  not  more  than  5 
per  cent  of  them  are  now  in  school,  the  census  of  the 
institutions  for  the  blind  showing  an  enrollment  of 
4100  only. 

In  October,  1879,  when  a  general  inquiry  was  made, 
it  was  found  that  there  were  321  blind  persons  in  the 
various  benevolent  institutions  in  the  state  of  New 
York,  such  as  almshouses,  hospitals,  etc.  Of  these, 
only  21  had  ever  attended  a  school  for  the  blind.  Up 
to  that  time  1800  young  persons  had  passed  through 
the  educational  institutions  for  the  blind  in  New  York 
state,  showing  that  all  but  21  of  those  so  educated  had 
at  any  rate  kept  out  of  institutions  for  the  care  of 
indigent  persons. 

Sixteen  years  later,  1895,  during  which  time  the 
population  of  the  state  had  increased  by  2,000,000, 
another  census  of  the  institutions  for  the  care  of  indi 
gent  persons  showed  that  there  were  only  276  blind 
persons  in  such  institutions  in  New  York  state.  Of 
these,  only  17  had  been  trained  in  an  institution  for  the 
education  of  the  blind,  and  yet,  up  to  that  time,  2600 
had  gone  through  the  schools  for  the  blind  in  New  York, 


126  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

showing  that  almost  all  who  had  been  properly  trained 
had  at  least  kept  out  of  the  almshouses. 

Another  interesting  fact  is  that  among  the  321  blind 
persons  who  were  in  the  almshouses  in  New  York 
state  in  1879  thirty-two  trades  and  professions  were 
represented,  and  among  the  276  who  were  in  the  aims- 
houses  in  1895,  thirty-five  trades  and  professions  were 
represented,  and  these,  had  not  sufficed  to  keep  their 
possessors  out  of  the  almshouses. 

A  Rational  Goal  to  be  Sought— The  issue  of  whether 
or  not  the  blind  are  to  become  self-sustaining  is  of 
prime  importance  to  public  interests,  because  upon  the 
determination  of  that  issue  must  depend  the  legislation 
to  be  enacted  and  the  policy  to  be  pursued  by  the 
commonwealth.  The  consensus  of  the  best  opinion  that 
I  could  gain  from  what  seemed  to  me  to  be  the  most 
expert  authority  and  observation  was  about  as  fol 
lows: 

1.  That  those  who  become  blind  in  adult  age,  and 
who   are   dependent   for   their   living   upon   industrial 
pursuits,   can  not  reasonably  hope   to  become  wholly 
self-sustaining  by  any  form  of  industrial  activity  to  be 
learned  after  suffering  the  loss  of  sight. 

2.  That  in  the  cases  of  those  who  were  born  blind, 
or  who  became  blind  in  early  years,  manual  training 
is   extremely  important  as  a  part  of  the   intellectual 
training,  but  even  in  their  case  the  trade-school  idea 
is  not  to  be  commended.     The  commercial  feature  of 
it   interferes   with   intellectual   development,    and   the 
probable  ability  to  compete  on  equal  terms  with  see 
ing  labor  and  mechanical  devices  does  riot  warrant  the 
expenditure  of  effort,  although  a  considerable  number 
will,  as  a  result  of  the  manual  training  received,  be  able 
to  earn  their  living. 

3.  There  are  a  few  occupations,  such  as  typewriting, 
piano-tuning,  massage,  and  dealing  in  musical  instru 
ments,   which   combine   a   good   degree   of  intellectual 
capacity  or  talent  with  a  good  degree  of  manual  skil; 
and  adaptability,   which  promise  those  thus  liberally 


LEADING  THE  BLIND.  127 

endoAved  the  opportunity  for  fully  paying  their  own 
way  through  the  world  with  a  reasonably  high  stand 
ard  of  living. 

4.  All  things  considered,  the  brightest  hope  held  out 
to  the  blind  is  that  they  be  educated  along  lines  similar 
to  the  best  type  of  education  for  seeing  people,  in 
cluding  intellectual  and  manual  training,  to  the  end 
that  they  may  become  companionable,  cultivated  and 
helpful  personalities  in  the  home  lives  of  their  own 
people.  If  they  can  not,  by  dint  of  manual  skill,  quite 
pay  their  own  way  they  can  come  so  near  it  as  to  be 
made  welcome  in  the  homes  of  their  relatives  and 
friends  and  so  be  absorbed  into  the  community  life 
without  becoming  public  charges.  There  is  a  world 
of  difference  between  those  who  have  been  to  a  school 
for  the  blind  and  those  who  have  graduated  from  such 
a  school.  The  latter  will  be  pretty  sure  to  keep  out 
of  the  almshouses  whatever  else  may  befall  them. 
Those  who  become  blind  in  adult  life  will  have  to  be 
supported,  at  least  partially,  either  by  private  benevo 
lence  or  at  the  public  charge. 

A  Gross  Injustice— There  are  numberless  homes  for 
the  aged  and  infirm  springing  up  all  over  the  country. 
They  are  a  splendid  form  of  private  benevolence,  but 
for  some  reason  not  entirely  clear,  and  very  far  from 
being  humane  or  even  rational,  blind  persons  are  usually 
excluded  from  such  homes.  There  runs  a  notion 
through  the  public  mind  that  blind  persons  should  be 
sent  to  homes  for  the  blind,  whereas  the  fact  is  that 
blindness  is  often  the  only  bond  of  sympathy  between 
them.  Blind  persons  of  education  and  refinement  are 
presupposed  to  find  just  the  social  atmosphere  neces 
sary  to  their  happiness  if  they  can  be  brought  into 
relations  with  other  blind  persons,  even  though  the 
latter  may  be  uneducated,  unrefined  and  even  immoral. 
It  is  only  necessary  to  have  the  case  stated  to  make  the 
absurdity  of  this  view  perfectly  apparent,  yet  those 
limitations  almost  universally  stand.  If  pressure,  the 


128  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

pressure  of  common  sense  and  common  humanity,  could 
be  brought  to  bear  upon  such  institutions  to  have  these 
restrictions  removed  a  great  many  blind  persons  would 
be  absorbed  into  them,  to  the  unspeakable  happiness  of 
the  blind  and  without  serious  detriment  to  institutions 
of  this  beneficent  class. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
THE  REFORMATORY. 

The  reformatory  is  a  species  of  purgatory.  It  is  a 
last  station  prior  to  entering  into  a  full  condemnation 
as  being  unfit  to  live  at  large.  It  is  a  place  of  expiation 
and  reformation,  a  place  where  the  offended  majesty 
of  the  law  may  be  satisfied,  the  face  turned  the  other 
way  and  the  redemption  of  the  individual  to  whole 
some  living  be  finally  worked  out.  But  it  is  a  prison, 
just  as  purgatory  is  believed  by  many  to  be  a  species 
of  hades.  The  punishment  is  remedial  and  disciplinary 
rather  than  retributive,  but  there  is  punishment  just 
the  same.  It  is  no  soft  berth. 

The  Sif ting-Out  Process— A  proper  system  of  dealing 
with  criminal  life  will  contemplate  a  careful  system 
of  sifting  out  the  tares  from  the  wheat  all  the  way 
from  the  first  false  step  to  the  final  plunge  into  iniquity. 
The  first  screen  to  pass  the  chaff  over  is  the  truant 
officer  who  looks  after  the  boys  and  girls  who  should 
be  in  school,  but  are  not,  making  use  also  of  the  parental 
school.  The  juvenile  court  and  probation  officer  come 
next  with  their  purpose  to  give  the  wayward  another 
chance  and  to  enforce  parental  responsibility,  making 
such  use  as  need  be  of  the  state  reform  schools,  first 
Whittier  and  then  Preston  school  at  lone.  Next  should 
come  the  reformatory. 

If  these  appliances  be  properly  employed,  of  all  those 
who  get  off  wrong  foot  first,  the  truant  officer  and 
parental  school  should,  roughly  speaking,  set  75  or 


THE  REFORMATORY,  129 

80  per  cent  back  on  the  right  track  to  remain  there. 
The  juvenile  court  and  the  reform  schools  should  return 
to  society,  fit  to  live  in  it,  75  or  80  per  cent  of  those 
who  slip  through  the  meshes  of  the  truant  officer  and 
parental  school.  The  state  reformatory,  when  Cali 
fornia  shall  establish  one,  should  recover  to  decent 
living  75  or  80  per  cent  of  those  who  slip  through  the 
meshes  of  the  reform  schools,  and,  finally,  a  state  prison 
should  be  able  to  return  to  society,  in  the  course  of  time, 
a  very  considerable  percentage  of  those  who  have 
graduated  to  it  from  the  state  reformatory,  and  it 
should  be  able  to  keep  those  whom  it  can  not  redeem 
where  the  dogs  can  not  bite  them.  This  is  the  sifting- 
out  process  toward  which  California  is  unconsciously 
working,  and  of  which  the  reformatory  is  a  most  essen 
tially  and  badly  needed  part.  Crime  should  be  con 
fined  to  the  abnormal  and  the  grossly  abnormal  should 
be  confined  in  prison. 

Elmira  Reformatory— Nearly  all  public  institutions 
have  their  ups  and  downs.  They  have  their  ups  when 
they  are  put  into  the  hands  of  some  one  great,  over 
mastering  personality  imbued  with  a  righteous  en 
thusiasm  for  the  work  and  unhampered  by  a  petty, 
partisan  and  place-hunting  political  influence.  Elmira 
had  its  period  of  glory  when,  under  the  superintendency 
of  Warden  Brockway,  it  became  the  Mecca  of  penol- 
ogists  from  all  over  the  world;  but  the  good,  gray 
warden  waxed  old,  the  job-chasers  hungered  for  his 
place  and  power,  politics  accomplished  the  overthrow 
of  his  dynasty  and  Elmira  took  a  header  for  the  dead 
level  of  a  politically  run  prison.  It  arrived  there  with 
a  dull  thud. 

Public  opinion  in  New  York  would  not  long  stand 
for  such  a  thing.  The  politicians  were  thrown  over 
board  and  the  prison  management  sent  to  Concord, 
Massachusetts,  for  Warden  Scott,  of  the  Concord  Re 
formatory,  because  he  had  made  a  reputation  there. 
Elmira  is  now  back  where  it  was,  doing  an  incompar- 


130  INSTITUTIONAL    IJPE. 

able  work  in  redeeming  to  industrial  and  decent  living 
the  human  riff-raff  of  the  streets  of  Greater  New  York. 

The  Material  to  Work  On— Ninety  per  cent  of  the 
inmates  of  Elmira  come  from  the  streets  of  New  York 
and  they  bring  with  them  records  of  felonies  committed. 
Petty  offenders  are  not  sent  there,  except  for  repeated 
petty  larcenies,  which,  by  the  law  of  New  York,  consti 
tute  felony.  There  were  1371  prisoners  there  on  the 
day  of  my  visit,  ranging  between  16  and  30  years  of 
age.  About  10  per  cent  of  these  are  so  deficient  as  to 
make  no  progress  in  education  or  handicraft.  These 
become  the  commonest  of  common  laborers,  but  are 
often  redeemed  from  lives  of  crime.  They  are  reformed 
without  being  transformed.  Between  10  and  20  per 
cent  are  self-control  defectives.  They  are  intelligent 
enough,  but  have  so  little  self-control  that  they  fall 
from  grace  upon  the  slightest  provocation.  They  were 
not  properly  trained  in  early  childhood  and  it  is  ex 
tremely  difficult  to  train  them  in  self-control  in  after 
years,  but  it  can  be  done  to  some  extent.  However, 
they  generally  advance  to  one  of  the  local  peniten 
tiaries,  or  to  one  of  the  state  prisons— two  different 
institutions  in  New  York.  The  grimed-in  dirt  of  sin 
is  often  mistaken  for  hereditary  tendency  toward  evil. 
The  most  densely  ignorant  cases  come  from  interior 
New  York.  The  denizens  of  the  city  slums  may  be 
illiterate,  as  most  of  them  are,  but  they  are  not  igno 
rant.  The  back-country  bumpkin  may  be  both  ignorant 
and  illiterate,  but  in  either  case  a  half-year  of  indus 
trial  training  drives  the  dull  look  of  stupid  bestiality 
out  of  the  faces  of  most  of  the  prisoners  and  they  look 
like  different  persons. 

The  Story  in  Figures— Always  remembering  that 
sociological  percentages  are  little  more  than  general 
izations  or  approximations  to  the  exact  truth,  the  fol 
lowing  -results  of  Elmira 's  reformatory  work  may  be 
summarized.  Elmira  takes  men  50  or  60  per  cent  of 
whom  have  had  institutional  records,  only  6  per  cent 


THE   REFORMATORY.  131 

are  even  partial  tradesmen,  40  per  cent  can  neither 
read  nor  write  and  30  per  cent  more  can  barely  do  so. 
Seventy  per  cent  of  this  mass  is  returned  to  society, 
in  something  less  than  two  years,  on  an  average,  to 
behave  so  well  that  they  do  not  afterwards  figure  in 
criminal  annals. 

How  it  is  Done — At  the  foundation  of  all  of  the1 
reformatory  work  done  at  Elmira  lies  the  indeter 
minate  sentence.  It  was  the  conduct  of  the  prisoner 
that  brought  him  there  and  it  must  be  his  conduct  that 
will  get  him  out,  and  the  love  of  liberty  is  the  primary 
incentive  to  exertion  in  the  upward  climb.  Every  act 
during  the  day  or  night  either  lengthens  or  shortens 
the  term  of  imprisonment  and  it  is  for  the  prisoner 
himself  to  say  which  it  shall  be.  He  is  given  a  square 
deal.  Every  prisoner  who  thinks  that  he  has  been  un 
justly  marked  has  the  right  of  appeal  to  the  warden, 
and  the  appeal  is  sustained  if  the  prisoner  be  in  the 
right.  If  an  officer  be  at  fault  he  must  make  the  amende 
honorable  or  get  out  of  the  institution.  Officers  and 
prisoners  alike  know  this  and  they  proceed  with  care. 
Without  this  system  little  could  be  accomplished. 

Industrial  Training — Thirty-one  trades  are  at  least 
partially  taught  at  Elmira.  No  manufacturing  is  done. 
The  labor  unions  got  that  eliminated,  so  models  are 
made,  graded  and  taken  to  pieces  again.  This  is  not, 
in  one  sense,  as  good  as  making  real  things,  but  it  is 
better  than  a  general  manufacturing  business,  which 
results  in  a  man  learning  to  do  one  thing  and  only  one, 
and  seldom  mastering  a  trade.  All  the  prisoners  are 
unskilled  when  they  come  to  Elmira,  and  they  go  out 
as  advanced  apprentices,  having  about  two-thirds  fin 
ished  their  trades. 

The  School — Everybody  in  Elmira  goes  to  school  at 
least  some  part  of  the  day,  and  few  go  out  who  do  not 
at  least  know  how  to  read  and  write,  and  many  secure 
what  amounts  to  a  common  school  education.  A  few 


132  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

do  high  school  and  college  work,  but  as  a  rule  educa 
tion  is  regarded  as  the  severest  punishment  inflicted, 
and  75  per  cent  of  the  men  will  throw  down  their  books 
upon  the  instant  and  volunteer  to  dig  ditch  for  the 
laying  of  sewer  pipe  in  preference  to  getting  their 
lessons,  but  effort  in  school  counts  for  shortening  the 
term  of  sentence,  so  they  take  the  bitter  with  the  sweet 
and  make  the  effort. 

The  Credit  System — Upon  entering  the  prison  each 
person  is  given  a  little  bank  book  in  which  is  entered 
his  debits  and  credits.  Prisoners  in  the  first  grade  are 
allowed  55  cents  a  day  for  good  work  and  are  charged 
42  cents  a  day  for  maintenance.  The  second  grade 
man  may  earn  45  cents  and  pay  32  cents  per  day  for  his 
support.  The  prisoners  are  charged  according  to  scale 
for  misdemeanors.  Six  perfect  months  will  advance 
one  to  the  first  grade,  and  thirty  consecutive  perfect 
days  will  take  one  out  of  the  third  grade.  At  the  end 
of  the  time  of  service  in  the  prison,  when  parole  has 
been  earned,  the  prisoner  is  given  the  balance  to  his 
credit  in  cash.  Paroled  men  are  given  $10  anyway  and 
discharged  men  $15,  and  so  much  more  as  may  remain 
to  their  credit  after  deducting  these  sums.  This  is  an 
important  incentive. 

The  Discipline — The  discipline  is  military,  and  the 
silent  system  is  exacted,  at  least  during  all  working 
hours.  Misdemeanants  reduced  to  the  third  grade  are 
clothed  in  red  and  are  put  at  fatigue  duty  with  no 
privileges.  When  Mr.  Scott  took  charge  of  the  prison 
there  were  500  men  in  red.  On  the  day  of  my  visit 
there  were  less  than  forty  and  the  number  has  a 
tendency  to  further  decrease.  Corporal  punishment 
is  not  used,  but  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
greater  part  of  the  prisoners  are  much  more  mature 
than  is  generally  the  case  with  reform  school  lads  and 
therefore  are  not  influenced  by  quite  the  same  con 
siderations. 

A  book  could  be  written,  as  many  books  have  been 


THE  REFORMATORY.  l.T> 

written,   on  Elmira  Reformatory,   but  I  must  dismiss 
the  subject,  however  inadequately  treated. 

Concord  Reformatory — The  only  reformatory  other 
than  at  Elmira  that  I  visited  was  the  one  at  Concord, 
Massachusetts.  If  I  devote  less  space  to  it  than  to 
Elmira  it  is  because  many  phases  of  the  subject  are 
common  to  both  institutions  and  have  been  treated 
under  the  Elmira  subhead.  For  instance,  only  about 
ten  per  cent  of  the  admissions  at  Concord,  as  at  Elmira, 
are  congenitally  deficient,  very  few  know  how  to  do 
anything  that  the  world  wants  done  and  is  willing  to 
pay  for,  nearly  all  left  school  in  the  third  or  fourth 
grades  or  below,  and  nearly  all  owe  their  criminal 
records  to  lax  bringing  up  and  lax  school  relations. 
Concord  gives  these  men  another  chance,  and  not  only 
gives  it  to  them,  but  compels  them  to  take  it  and  make 
the  most  of  it. 

Work  and  Instruction— On  one  particular  Concord 
Reformatory  differs  radically  from  Elmira.  Elmira 
affords  instruction  only,  but  does  not  require  commer 
cial  wrork  beyond  providing  for  the  wants  of  the  prison. 
At  Concord  half  the  working  day  is  spent  in  some 
form  of  manufacturing,  the  other  half  in  some  form 
of  industrial  training,  and  the  evening  is  devoted  to 
cultural  school  work  for  two  hours.  Nine  trades  are 
prosecuted  in  the  institution  for  the  supplying  of  the 
wants  of  the  institution  and  of  other  state  institutions. 
There  are  100  hand  looms  for  weaving  cloth  required 
in  state  institutions.  This  is  regarded  as  productive 
labor  and  not  necessarily  a  part  of  the  education  of  the 
prisoner. 

Industrial  Education — The  industrial  education  of 
men  at  Concord  Reformatory  begins  with  sloyd  so  far 
as  there  is  bench  room  for  it.  Those  who  can  not  be 
placed  here  first  are  put  in  somewhere  else,  but  the 
mechanical  superintendent  would  begin  with  sloyd  in 
every  instance  if  possible.  It  is  carried  along  through 


134  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

lathe  work  and  wood  carving  and  brightens  up  the 
belated  mechanic  as  nothing  else  can.  With  this  be 
ginning  the  student  goes  on  with  such  trades  as  are 
open  to  him  until  he  is  ready  to  go  out,  by  which  time 
he  has  at  least  become  an  advanced  apprentice. 

The  Discipline— The  disciplinary  system  is  strict 
without  being  harsh.  No  corporal  punishment  is  in 
flicted,  but  there  is  some  solitary  confinement  with 
hard  labor.  The  sentence  being  indeterminate,  the  man 
has  his  own  salvation  in  his  own  hands,  and  love  of 
liberty,  except  in  the  cases  of  a  few  "chronics,"  is 
sufficient  to  secure  good  behavior.  There  are  the  cus 
tomary  three  grades  of  prisoners,  all  coming  in  in  the 
second  grade.  The  first  and  second  grade  prisoners 
mingle  in  their  working  hours,  one  being  distinguished 
from  the  other  only  by  a  chevron  on  the  arm  of  the 
first-graders.  The  second-grader  may  be  advanced  to 
first  grade  by  earning  1000  credits  in  seven  consecutive 
months,  and  he  is  helped  to  do  this  by  being  given  a 
bonus  of  150  credits  for  four  months  of  perfect  record. 
He  may  obtain  five  credits  per  day  by  general  behavior, 
diligence  in  study,  industry  in  labor,  quality  of  work, 
quantity  of  work.  A  felon  must  remain  six  months  in 
first  grade  before  being  considered  for  parole,  a  mis 
demeanant  three  months.  It  is  possible  for  a  man  with 
a  five-year  sentence  to  work  his  way  out  in  one  year, 
and  a  two-year  man  may  get  out  in  nine  months,  but 
the  ordinary  time  for  both  classes  runs  between  fifteen 
and  eighteen  months.  Seventy  or  seventy-five  per  cent 
go  out  so  far  redeemed  that  they  do  not  again  figure 
in  criminal  records.  Another  percentage  comes  back 
for  a  second  chance,  and  often  this  works  a  reformation 
when  the  first  term  did  not. 

A  Prison  Farm— Connected  with  the  reformatory  at 
Concord,  although  at  a  distance  from  it,  is  a  farm  of 
300  acres,  to  which  the  men  eligible  for  parole  are 
transferred  for  two  or  three  months  before  being  set 
at  liberty.  They  would  lose  everything  if  they  ran 


I 'HI  SONS   AND    1'HISONKUS.  135 

away,    and  so  remain  to  get  up  their  strength  by  work 
ing'  in  the  open  air. 

Drunkards  Given  a  Chance— Habitual  drunkards  are 
not  looked  upon  with  favor  in  Massachusetts,  and  a 
good  many  of  them  are  sent  to  the  Concord  Reform 
atory  for  a  year-and-a-day.  They  can  be  so  committed 
up  to  35  years  of  age,  other  culprits  up  to  40.  They 
are  treated  like  other  prisoners  and  frequently  go  out 
to  sin  no  more.  Having  been  brought  face  to  face 
with  their  besetting  sin  they  learn  self-control. 

Reformatory  Influences— The  law  says  that  the  re 
formatory  influences  relied  upon  at  Concord  shall  be 
"religion,  ethical,  literary,  intellectual,  manual  and 
physical  instruction."  As  a  matter  of  definite  practice 
and  policy,  however,  these  influences  are  put  into  about 
this  order:  "habits  of  industry,  knowledge  of  industry, 
the  personalities  of  the  prison  management,  and  after 
wards,  religion,  education  and  ethical  instruction." 
There  were  845  prisoners  at  Concord  on  the  day  of  my 
visit. 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

PRISONS  AND  PRISONERS. 

The  general  public  has  no  very  clearly  defined  ideas 
on  penology.  It  has  roughly  dealt  out,  in  its  own  mind, 
too  often  culminating  in  legislation,  a  rude  sort  of 
adaptation  of  so  much  of  imprisonment  for  so  much  of 
offense  against  the  laws  and  usages  of  society.  The 
courts  have  modified  these  apportionments,  within  ex 
terior  bounds,  to  suit  their  own  notions  of  the  degrees 
of  criminality  requiring  to  be  redressed  at  the  bar  of 
justice.  The  result  has  been,  in  California,  for  instance, 
as  many  kinds  of  justice  as  there  have  been  judges  of 
criminal  courts  seated  on  the  bench.  Therefore,  there 
are  men  in  our  prisons  serving  sentences  ranging  any 
where  from  two  years  to  twentv  for  the  commission  of 


136  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

criminal   acts   of    practically   similar   character   under 
practically  similar  circumstances. 

.This  condition  not  only  defeats  justice,  but  it  gives 
the  prisoner  a  sense  of  having  been  either  extremely 
fortunate  or  unfortunate  in  the  lottery  of  the  judicial 
dispensation  of  injustice.  In  the  first  instance,  the 
prisoner  laughs  in  his  sleeve  and  thanks  his  fortunate 
stars ;  in  the  second,  he  nurses  his  grievance  against 
society  and  awaits  his  opportunity  to  get  even.  In 
neither  case  is  it  conducive  to  reformation  of  char 
acter,  which  should  be  the  chief  end  of  the  whole 
machinery  of  criminal  jurisprudence  and  prison  dis 
cipline. 

The  Indeterminate  Sentence— The  indeterminate 
sentence  changes  all  this  and  puts  the  whole  problem 
on  a  basis  of  intelligence  and  justice  combined.  The 
vindication  of  the  law  is  provided  for  in  the  minimum 
sentence.  The  reformation  of  the  prisoner  is  mainly 
put  into  his  own  hands  that  he  may  work  out  his  own 
salvation  under  the  inspiration  of  the  highest  incentive 
known  to  man — the  love  of  personal  and  physical 
liberty.  It  acts  as  a  tribunal  for  the  equalization  of 
judicial  sentences,  which  sadly  need  equalizing,  and  it 
forms  a  basis  of  square  dealing  in  the  mind  of  the 
prisoner  on  which  to  found  reformatory  work. 

It  is  a  good  deal  cheaper  to  reform  a  prisoner  than 
to  keep  him  penned  up,  and  a  good  deal  better  to  turn 
him  out  reformed  than  deformed.  The  indeterminate 
sentence  law  must  be  made  the  beginning  of  better 
things  in  California,  for  without  it  no  permanently 
good  thing  is  likely  to  be  accomplished  for  prisoners 
or  public. 

As  for  punishing  prisoners  per  se,  Almighty  God  will 
have  all  eternity  in  which  to  do  that,  and  there  is  no 
especial  need  for  getting  in  a  few  licks  upon  our  own 
account  during  the  life  of  the  prisoner.  The  deterrent 
effects  of  punishment  have  been  commonly  overesti 
mated,  but  the  minimum  sentence  established  by  law 


PRISONS  AND  PRISONERS.  137 

will  be  quite  sufficient  for  that  purpose.     The  danger 
is  that  it  will  be  excessive  rather  than  otherwise. 

Classes  of  Criminals — There  are  real  criminals,  and 
then  there  are  accidental  or  uncriminal  criminals. 
There  are  some  human  dregs  who,  by  their  constitution 
and  environment,  will  ever  be  at  war  with  civilized 
society.  Such  as  these  will  have  to  be  kept  apart  dur 
ing  their  natural  lives,  but  as  recidivists  they  Avill  be 
winnowed  out  from  the  others  and  be  given  their 
deserts.  Relatively,  these  are  few,  probably  not  above 
10  per  cent  of  those  who  are  found  guilty  of  the  com 
mission  of  felonies.  The  rest  are  made  up  of  fairly  good 
material  gone  wrrong.  The  greater  part  is  capable  of 
redemption  through  industry  and  the  square  deal. 
Some  of  it  is  not,  for  total  depravity  may  be  achieved 
if  not  obtained  as  a  birthright.  Those  who  have 
achieved  it  will  add  themselves  to  the  congenitally 
deficient  and  will  make  up  a  moiety  of  our  permanent 
prison  population. 

It  is  said  that  the  angels  of  darkness  fell  from  the 
parapets  of  heaven  to  the  depths  of  hell  at  a  single 
plunge.  There  are  fairly  good  persons  who  commit 
criminal  acts  of  this  character.  Society  probably  wrill 
not,  and  perhaps  can  not,  bring  itself  to  deal  liberally 
with  such  as  these.  They  become  life-termers  as  a 
warning  to  others  of  their  class— who  probably  do  not 
receive  the  warning  in  time  to  heed  it.  In  eastern 
prisons  a  life  sentence  generally  means  sentence  for 
life.  Such  as  these  become  objects  of  sympathy  and 
therefore  do  not  lose  hope,  but  as  sympathy  does  not 
take  the  form  of  releasing  them  they  hope  on  till 
death  or  insanity  and  death. 

Prison  System  vs.  Personality— The  modern  exem 
plary  prison  has  three  grades  of  prisoners.  Those  who 
come  in  enter  the  second  grade  and  are  usually  clad 
in  cadet  gray.  They  work  themselves  up  to  army  blue 
or  down  to  stripes  or  turkey  red,  according  to  conduct. 
There  is  a  finely  discriminating  system  of  rewards  and 


138  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

of  deprivations  of  privileges  under  which  the  prisoner 
lives  and  moves  and  has  his  being.  He  must  watch  his 
p's  and  q's  ceaselessly  or  get  caught  napping.  Many 
do,  and  the  adjusting  of  penalties  to  breaches  of  the 
rules  occupies  about  half  the  time  of  the  prison  manage 
ment.  That  it  teaches  self-control  can  not  be  ques 
tioned,  nor  can  it  be  questioned  that  self-control  is 
the  surpassing  need  of  the  man  in  stripes.  The  want 
of  it  has  put  him  in  stripes,  and  if  its  acquisition  can 
take  him  out  well  and  good;  but,  after  all,  there  is 
much  question  if  it  can  reach  the  heart  of  the  man, 
or  if  a  man  can  be  reformed  without  having  the  heart 
of  him  reached. 

That  indescribable  something  we  call  personality  is 
the  only  redemptive  force  I  know  of  in  the  world. 
Theology  can  be  taught,  but  religion  can  not.  Religion 
must  emanate  from  the  personality.  I  have  seen 
prisons  conducted  well  under  an  enlightened  prison 
system,  and  I  have  seen  them  equally  well  conducted 
under  no  system  at  all,  but  with  the  right  men  to  do  the 
work.  Prisoners  are,  after  all,  men.  Many  prison  offi 
cials  forget  this  and  come  to  look  upon  their  charges 
as  mere  raw  material  upon  which  to  practice  prison 
discipline  that  there  may  be  such  a  thing  as  prison 
discipline  in  the  world.  When  a  warden  forgets  that 
his  prisoners  are  men,  he  should  give  place  to  another 
who  can  remember  it.  Discipline  is  useful  to  a  prison, 
not  a  prison  to  discipline. 

The  writer  has  neither  gone  far  enough,  seen  enough 
nor  read  enough  to  undertake  to  solve  the  problem  of 
penology.  The  things  stated  above  seem  to  him  to  be 
true,  and  he  believes  that  they  are  true,  but  the  case 
is  not  closed  even  for  him.  It  is,  however,  for  the 
people  of  California  to  do  something  sensible  about 
prisons  and  prisoners,  and  in  default  of  better  stuff 
the  foregoing  will  do  to  ruminate  over. 


PRISON   LABOR.  139 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 
PRISON  LABOR. 

It  is  not  so  much  what  organized  labor  really  objects 
to  that  makes  the  employment  of  prison  labor  difficult, 
as  it  is  what  the  timid  politician  fears  that  organized 
labor  may  object  to.  The  need  of  the  time  is  to  have 
men  of  affairs  first  inform  themselves  as  to  what  con 
stitutes  a  sound  policy  regarding  prison  labor,  and  then 
hold  heart-to-heart  talks  with  organized  labor  over  the 
results  of  their  investigations.  Reasonable  men  can 
always  be  won  over  to  a  reasonable  view  in  a  reason 
able  time,  and  the  men  who  have  had  the  power  to 
organize  labor  as  efficiently  as  it  has  been  organized 
may  safely  be  classed  as  reasonable  men. 

Competition  of  Prison  Labor  with  Free  Labor— Every 

stroke  of  work  done  by  a  prisoner  competes  more  or 
less  with  free  labor.  If  the  prisoners  were  set  at  liberty 
and  went  to  work  outside  of  prison  every  one  of  them 
wrould  compete  with  free  labor,  and  they  can  not  do 
less  inside  if  they  work  at  all.  In  fact,  what  society 
wants  of  them  is  that  they  shall  compete.  They  have 
been  shut  up  in  prison  mainly  because  they  were  not 
competing  with  free  labor,  but  were  feloniously  trying 
to  live  without  competing.  Every  able-bodied  person 
who  lives  without  competing  with  some  form  of  free 
labor  is  either  a  drone  or  a  felon,  and  is  usually  both, 
and  needs  to  be  forced  into  competition  with  free 
labor  until  he  becomes  willing  to  compete  without  com 
pulsion. 

But  free  labor  demands  that  this  competition  shall 
be  on  fair  terms.  That  is  a  rightful  demand,  perfectly 
reasonable  and  perfectly  feasible.  Prison  labor  should 
be  employed  for  all  it  is  worth,  but  on  terms  essentially 
fair  to  labor  that  is  free.  It  can  be  so  employed  and 
never  should  be  employed  in  any  other  way. 


140  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

The  Contract  System— Popular  opposition  to  the 
employment  of  prison  labor  has  grown  out  of  the  sys 
tem  of  contracting  prison  labor  to  greedy  corporations 
upon  terms  that  were  at  once  unfair  to  the  prisoners, 
to  free  labor  and  to  the  purchasing  public.  All  the 
labor  of  the  Connecticut  state  prison  at  Wethersfield 
has  been  under  contract  for  many  years.  A  large  part 
of  it  has  been  contracted  to  a  firm  of  shoe  manufac 
turers  for  thirty  years  at  fifty  cents  per  day,  per  man, 
the  state  to  board  the  prisoners  and  to  get  a  full  ten 
hours'  work  out  of  them  each  week  day  at  the  peril 
of  a  splendid  system  of  rewards  and  penalties  rein 
forced  by  the  indeterminate  sentence  and  the  silent 
system  of  prison  discipline. 

I  expected  the  paid  bosses  of  this  sort  of  labor  to 
decry  it,  but  they  did  not.  On  the  contrary,  they 
asserted  that  it  compared  very  favorably  with  labor 
outside  of  prison.  I  have  no  manner  of  doubt  that  the 
contractors  for  this  labor  could  afford  to  pay  a  dollar 
a  day  for  the  labor  and  board  it  instead  of  getting  it 
for  fifty  cents  a  day  and  having  it  boarded.  Free  labor 
has  a  right  to  protest  against  such  competition  as  that, 
and  I  shall  hope  to  see  it  so  protest  that  it  will  be 
brought  to  an  end  in  Connecticut  as  well  as  elsewhere. 
It  is  not  a  fair  competition  with  free  labor. 

Frightened  More  than  Hurt— But  even  in  the  case  of 
the  Connecticut  prison  contract  labor  the  shoe  and  the 
shirt  industries  are  more  frightened  than  hurt.  The 
contract  is  a  "good  thing"  for  the  contractors,  but  not 
particularly  a  bad  thing  for  the  shoe  and  shirt  trade, 
because  of  so  little  importance  relatively  to  the  whole 
volume  of  manufacture  of  these  products.  One  factory 
more  or  less  has  hardly  any  effect  upon  the  general 
price  level,  and  the  general  price  level  only  is  of  im 
portance  to  the  producer  and  consumer. 

If  the  labor  of  all  the  prisoners  in  the  United  States 
were  properly  distributed  throughout  the  general 
manufacturing  lines  their  product  would  scarcely  affect 
the  general  price  level  either  of  wages  or  of  com  modi- 


PRISON  LABOR.  141 

ties.  As  well  might  the  people  on  the  low  lands  object 
to  turning  the  water  from  a  waste-way  of  an  irrigation 
ditch  into  the  river  through  fear  of  injuriously  raising 
the  water-plane  of  San  Francisco  bay.  Nevertheless, 
the  principle  of  contracting  prison  labor  to  corporations 
is  a  wrong  one,  and  a  wide  diversification  of  prison 
labor  is  unlikely.  Therefore,  the  whole  contract  sys 
tem  should  be  abolished.  It  is  unjust  to  free  labor, 
unnecessary  to  the  profitable  employment  of  prisoners 
and  not  in  accordance  with  sound  business  policy. 

At  Wholesale  Prices — Each  state  should  employ  its 
own  labor  for  its  own  purposes  and,  if  it  have  any 
surplus,  put  it  upon  the  market  at  current  wholesale 
prices.  If  it  can  not  do  business  on  that  basis  then  let 
it  quit  trying  to  do  business.  It  is  not  true  to  say  of 
prison  labor  that  it  costs  the  state  nothing.  It  costs 
a  very  great  deal  to  house  it,  board  it,  govern  it,  and 
get  the  work  out  of  it.  It  will  not  undersell  a  free 
market  if  compelled  to  reimburse  itself  for_  its  outlay 
and  yet  meet  wholesale  prices  in  the  open  market. 
That  sort  of  competition  would  be  fair  to  free  labor, 
and  fair  play  is  all  that  free  labor  has  a  right  to  claim, 
or  is  likely  to  claim  when  the  issue  is  put  to  it  frankly 
and  fairly. 

Furthermore,  each  commonwealth  has  many  wants 
of  its  own  and  has  a  natural  right  to  supply  those  wants 
with  its  own  labor  if  it  can.  If  its  industries  be  so 
diversified  as  to  cover  all  the  wants  of  public  institu 
tional  life  it  will  hustle  the  prisons  to  supply  the 
demands.  The  laws  give  Massachusetts  prisons  the 
right  to  sell  surplus  products  on  the  open  market  at 
current  wholesale  prices,  but  the  sales  are  very  small 
and  inconsequential.  New  York  manufactures  to  sup 
ply  its  own  institutional  needs  and,  although  power 
machinery  is  used,  the  prison  labor  can  not  be  made 
to  supply  the  institutional  demand. 

Up-to-Date  Machinery— In  Massachusetts  demagogy 
has  compelled  the  use  of  hand  machinery  in  the  main 


142  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

to  the  handicapping  of  industrial  effort.  Production 
is  further  handicapped  by  limiting  the  number  of  men 
to  be  employed  at  different  trades,  and,  finally,  the 
law  requiring  production  on  state  account  is  enforced 
in  a  way  that  obeys  the  law's  letter  without  throwing 
much  spirit  into  it.  Only  about  seven  hours'  work  is 
gotten  out  of  the  prisoners  per  day  in  the  longest  days 
of  the  year,  and  only  about  five  hours  during  the  shorter 
days  of  the  winter  months.  At  Auburn  prison,  New 
York,  better  results  are  obtained,  better  machinery 
used  and  better  work  done,  but  not  to  the  injury  of 
free  labor,  because  the  general  market  is  not  undersold 
and  the  price  level  sought  to  be  reduced.  What  labor 
wants  for  itself  it  should  be  willing  to  grant  to  the 
state,  viz.,  a  fair  competition  instead  of  an  unfair  one. 

The  Illinois  Scheme — Illinois  undertook  to  knock  out 
the  school-desk  trust  by  fixing  the  prices  at  which 
school  desks  should  be  sold  at  $1  less  than  the  trust 
price.  The  trust  came  down  to  the  state  rate  and  went 
on  selling  its  desks  while  the  prison-made  desks  are 
being  piled  up  in  warehouses.  New  York  had  its 
prison-made  prices  fixed  by  a  commission,  with  regard 
to  a  reasonable  wholesale  price,  with  the  result  that 
Greater  New  York  takes  all  the  school  desks  Auburn 
prison  can  make.  Illinois  has  700  idle  men  rotting  in 
their  cells  at  Joliet  because  it  neither  required  state 
institutions  to  buy  of  the  prisons  nor  the  prisons  to  sell 
at  current  wholesale  prices  in  the  open  market. 

It  has  been  suggested  in  the  interests  of  labor,  that 
the  improved  machinery  used  be  thrown  out  and  all 
work  be  done  by  hand.  That  might  be  allowable 
rather  than  to  permit  an  army  of  men  to  lie  in  their 
cells  idle  from  month  to  month  and  year  to  year,  but 
it  is  economically  as  sensible  as  to  require  the  men  to 
have  one  hand  strapped  to  their  sides  that  they  might 
work  only  with  the  other.  In  the  prison  at  Charlestown, 
Mass.,  I  saw  seventy  men  weaving  prison  cloth  with 
hand  looms  when  two  men  with  power  looms  would 


PRISON  LABOR.  143 

h;m>   done   the   same   work,   and  turned   out  a   better 
article. 

Apprentice  Labor  Mainly — Always  remembering  that 
a  main  purpose  of  a  prison  is  to  send  its  men  back  into 
life  able  to  compete  with  free  labor  on  terms  of  equality, 
and  so  earn  an  honest  living,  it  will  readily  be  seen 
that  a  large  part  of  the  labor  it  can  employ  must  be 
apprentice  labor  and  so  quite  unable  to  compete  on 
equal  terms  with  skilled  labor.  By  the  time  a  good 
prisoner,  especially  in  a  reformatory,  can  become  an 
advanced  apprentice  in  a  useful  trade,  he  will  have 
regained  his  freedom.  Only  the  long-termers  and  life- 
termers  can  be  counted  on  for  journeyman  work,  and 
they  are  relatively  few.  Handicapped  in  these  several 
ways  private  enterprise  and  free  labor  have  nothing 
to  fear  from  competition  with  prison  labor  under  state 
management.  The  ability  of  the  state  to  compete  with 
free  labor  and  private  enterprise  is  much  more  ques 
tionable  than  that  of  free  labor  and  capital  being  able 
to  withstand  state  competition. 

Something  for  the  Prisoner,  Too— Remembering  that 
the  prisoner  is  a  man,  and  perhaps  not  only  has  a 
future  to  plan  for  when  he  shall  go  outside,  but  very 
likely  has  relatives  suffering  for  the  aid  of  what  his 
labor  can  produce,  it  is  worth  while  to  give  some  further 
thought  to  him.  This  is  done,  for  instance,  at  the  East 
ern  penitentiary  at  Philadelphia,  where  there  are  many 
hundreds  of  men  working,  exclusively  by  hand,  on 
many  articles  of  manufacture  for  the  open  market. 
The  men  are  given  a  reasonable  stint  of  work  to  do  for 
the  state,  after  which  they  may  produce  on  their  own 
account  at  a  moderate  stipend.  It  is  astonishing  what 
an  incentive  a  very  small  earning  power  gives.  Those 
men  will  roll  out  of  their  bunks  and  work  from  daylight 
until  dark  in  order  to  earn,  beyond  their  state  stint, 
fifteen  or  twenty  cents  a  day.  They  have  learned  the 
working  habit  before  they  know  it,  and  many  a  wife 


144  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

and  child  outside  is  being  helped  over  hard  places  by 
the  earnings  of  some  man  who  has,  by  violating  the 
laws  of  his  country,  very  likely  while  drunk,  become 
a  prisoner  for  a  term  of  years. 

What  California  Should  Do — California  has  a  large 
institutional  population  which  needs  to  be  supplied 
with  many  things,  very  few  of  which  are  now  being 
supplied  by  prison  or  other  institutional  labor.  Our 
prisoners  are  not  learning  trades  that  they  can  follow 
when  they  go  outside.  In  my  judgment  San  Quentin 
should  be  made  a  reformatory  and  trade  school,  work 
ing  only  upon  lines  that  can  be  followed  when  the 
prisoner  shall  have  worked  his  way  out.  Folsom  should 
be  made  a  walled  prison  and  manufactory  equipped 
with  up-to-date  machinery  for  the  production  of  such 
commodities  as  the  state  institutions  require.  This  will 
give  a  wide  range  of  production,  few  men  will  be 
employed  in  each  line,  and,  if  some  excess  of  production 
over  the  requirements  for  the  institutions  shall  chance 
to  be  turned  out,  its  sale  on  the  open  market,  at  current 
wholesale  prices,  will  not  cause  a  ripple  on  the  placid 
bosom  of  price  level.  There  will  not  be  enough  of 
product  to  do  that. 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 
FOR  THE  HEALING  OF  HURT  MINDS. 

Insanity  is  in  this  country,  and  all  other  civilized 
countries,  on  the  increase  out  of  proportion  to  the  in 
crease  of  population.  To  become  insane  is,  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  sane,  the  sum  of  human  misfortunes. 
From  the  standpoint  of  the  insane  themselves  it  does 
not  look  so  bad.  They  generally  want  to  go  home,  but 
aside  from  this  their  every  reasonable  want  is  satisfied 
and,  with  few  exceptions,  with  kindness. 

It  has  seemed  to  me  that  the  insane  are,  'everywhere 
I  have  been,  given  good  physical  care.  This  is  espe 
cially  true  in  California.  Our  climate  is  on  the  side  of 


FOR  THE  HEALING  OP  HURT  MINDS.  145 

physical  comfort  and  a  certain  largeness  of  liberty  not 
allowable  elsewhere,  but,  with  all  deference  to  the 
experts  in  care  of  our  insane,  it  has  seemed  to  my  lay 
and  untutored  mind  that  not  enough  hurt  minds  were 
being  cured  of  their  maladies.  Therefore  I  sought,  as 
best  I  could,  while  on  my  eastern  pilgrimage,  to  find 
where,  if  anywhere,  more  was  being  done  than  in  Cali 
fornia  for  the  healing  of  minds  that  are  hurt. 

Causes  of  Increase  in  Insanity— If  the  phenomenon 
of  increase  of  insanity  be  as  broad  as  civilization  so 
must  be  the  causes  for  the  increase  of  that  phenomenon. 
Therefore,  it  is  well  to  look  for  a  universal  cause  for  the 
increase  of  insanity.  The  press  of  the  country  has 
hastily  jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  this  increase  is 
because  of  our  modern  stress  and  strenuosity  of  life. 
Perhaps  so.  That  is  no  doubt  a  contributing  cause, 
but  it  is  seldom  that  the  finger  can  be  put  upon  any  one 
cause  adequate  for  a  full  explanation.  Almost  every 
effect  has  many  contributing  causes. 

The  stress  of  our  time  may  be  set  down  as  one  con 
tributing  cause.  Increase  of  the  number  of  foci  of 
hereditary  predisposition  is  another.  The  more  that 
people  go  insane  the  more  are  there  from  whom  to 
inherit  that  hereditary  taint,  and  as  half  the  insanity 
there  is  is  roughly  written  off  to  hereditary  tendency, 
this  increase  of  tainted  family  stocks  must  be  regarded 
as  a  further  contributing  cause  toward  a  general  in 
crease  of  insanity. 

The  tremendous  migrations  'of  peoples  which  the  last 
century  has  witnessed,  bringing  them  to  scenes  and 
conditions  both  new  and  strange,  must  be  taken  as 
another  contributing  cause,  at  least  so  far  as  America 
is  concerned.  A  considerable  percentage  of  insanity 
in  our  country,  quite  out  of  proportion  to  their  relative 
numbers,  is  furnished  by  foreign-born  persons.  They 
go  insane  here  when  they  might  not  have  done  so  at 
home. 


146  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

May  we  not  account  for  some  of  this  increase,  too, 
by  reason  of  the  falling  off  of  our  former  standards  of 
morality?  Much  insanity  is  due  to  plain,,  old-fashioned 
sin,  sinful  excesses  in  all  relations  of  life.  In  former 
days  people  lived  more  prudently  and  went  astray 
mentally  and  morally  less  frequently.  But  whatever 
the  cause  the  fact  is  hardly  a  matter  of  dispute.  In 
sanity  is  proportionately  and  absolutely  on  the  increase-. 

Kinds  of  Insanity— Dr.  Tobey,  superintendent  of  the 
hospital  for  the  insane  at  Toledo,  Ohio,  universally 
recognized  as  one  of  the  strongest  men  in  that  work, 
told  me  that  it  would  be  much  easier  to  classify  all 
persons  out  of  insane  hospitals  into  different  kinds 
than  those  inside,  because  there  would  be  fewer  classes 
of  them.  The  medical  books  are  full  of  classifications, 
but  one  class  shades  into  another  so  that  lines  drawn 
between  them  are  more  arbitrary  than  scientific.  How 
ever,  we  have  the  acute  and  the  chronic  classifications 
that  any  layman  can  grasp,  and  this  will  serve  for  the 
purposes  of  this  chapter.  The  acute  are  those  who  have 
but  recently  become  mentally  ill.  The  chronic  are 
those  for  whom  there  is  no  reasonable  hope  of  recovery, 
and  yet  once  in  a  while  one  does  recover.  .  In  the  course 
of  twenty  years'  experience  in  the  asylum  for  chronic 
insane  at  Worcester,  Mass.,  with  an  average  of  550 
patients,  Dr.  Scribner  has  known  of  perhaps  twenty 
persons,  one  a  year,  recovering  their  reasons  absolutely, 
and  yet,  so  far  as  science  could  determine,  they  had 
become  hopelessly  and  chronically  insane. 

Hope  for  the  Acute— Whatever  there  may  be  of  sub 
stantial  hope  is  for  the  acute  cases.  I  found  eastern 
sentiment  very  strong  on  this  point  and  the  medical 
fraternity  enthusiastic  for  making  their  supreme  effort 
right  at  the  start.  What  seemed  to  me  to  be  the  best 
work  done  by  any  public  hospital  was  at  Ward's  Island, 
New  York.  Here  the  receiving  ward  is  the  finest  in 
the  institution.  In  California  the  finest  ward  is  the 
convalescent.  It  is  not  that  the  convalescent  wrard 


FOR  THE  HEALING  OF  HURT  MINDS.  147 

should  be  less  comfortable  and  homelike,  but  that  the 
acute  ward  should  be  more  so.  At  Ward's  Island  this 
ward  is  supplied  with  pianos  and  other  musical  instru 
ments,  with  fine  pictures  on  the  walls,  oaken  floors  and 
thick,  velvety  rugs,  potted  plants  sitting  all  around 
giving  the  room  almost  the  appearance  of  being  a  con 
servatory. 

The  acute  patient  is  here  given  a  bath  with  massage, 
the  condition  of  his  digestion  is  looked  after,  the  most 
tempting  foods  are  set  before  him,  he  is  treated  with 
great  kindness  and  soothed  as  much  as  possible,  and, 
instead  of  being  in  a  prison,  as  he  had  imagined,  he  is  in 
a  parlor  or  elegant  home  with  pretty  female  attendants 
as  well  as  male  to  attend  to  all  of  his  wants.  If  he  still 
continues  greatly  disturbed  he  may  be  put  to  soak, 
given  turkish  or  other  baths,  in  the  hope  of  increasing 
the  circulation,  reducing  the  temperature  and  putting 
his  whole  physical  being  in  a  normal  and  healthful 
condition.  Forty  per  cent  of  the  recoveries  are  made 
right  here  and  in  a  very  short  period  of  time. 

Practically  the  same  methods  are  employed  at  Hart 
ford  Retreat  and  at  McLean  Hospital  in  Massachusetts, 
both  private  institutions,  except  that  the  patients  are 
given  private  rooms  and  personal  attendants  instead 
of  being  treated  on  wards.  Hydrotherapeutic  (which 
means  water  cure)  appliances  are  very  generally  em 
ployed  and  with  good  results.  Only  one  of  California's 
hospitals  is  yet  equipped  with  these  appliances  and 
that  one  with  only  a  portion  of  the  whole  system.  I 
think  that  the  most  pressing  need  in  California  is  for 
its  hospitals  to  get  up  fully  abreast  of  Ward's  Island 
in  treating  acute  cases. 

Cases  of  Delirium— There  are  many  who  are  not  in 
sane,  but  only  delirious,  who  are  dragged  off  to  an 
insane  asylum  and  who  should  never  be  taken  there. 
The  ordinary  medical  practitioner  knows  little  more 
of  insanity  than  a  common-sense  layman.  Great  wrong 
is  often  done  patients  by  reason  of  this  lack  of  special 


148  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

knowledge,  which  eastern  medical  colleges  are  now 
trying  to  supply.  General  hospitals,  too,  are  preparing 
wards  for  the  treatment  of  cases  which  may  be  nothing 
more  than  delirium  or  other  forms  of  illness  attended 
with  mental  symptoms.  AVhen  the  general  practitioner 
rises  to  the  emergency  the  receiving  wards  of  our  state 
hospitals  will  be  less  thronged  than  they  now  are  and 
better  care  can  be  given  acute  cases.  In  the  institutions 
above  mentioned  each  patient  received  is  given  the 
benefit  of  the  individual  study  of  the  entire  medical 
staff,  and  there  comes  near  being  one  attendant  to 
each  patient. 

Labor  of  Patients— At  Ward's  Island,  when  one 
has  gotten  out  of  the  acute  ward  and  started  on  the 
road  toward  recovery,  he  is  taken  to  the  convalescent 
ward  to  rest  up  and  come  to  himself  still  more,  and 
from  there  to  the  shops  or  the  garden  to  go  to  work. 
It  is  found  that  nature  has  no  balm  for  hurt  minds 
better  than  honest  industry.  We  all  of  us  know  that 
when  we  are  troubled  in  spirit  the  best  thing  we  can 
do  is  to  duff  in  and  work  good  and  hard  at  something 
that  occupies  our  mind,  but  in  a  different  direction 
from  that  concerning  which  we  are  troubled.  It  is 
equally  so  with  the  insane,  and  to  set  them  to  learning 
a  new  trade,  or  working  diligently  with  their  hands, 
or  in  the  open  air  with  pick  and  shovel,  hoe  and  rake, 
is  to  set  them  on  the  road  toward  regaining  their  proper 
senses  if  they  are  to  be  regained,  which  isn't  always 
by  any  means. 

Private  institutions,  such  as  Hartford  Retreat  and 
McLean  Hospital,  are  mainly  denied  the  opportunity 
for  working  their  patients,  who  generally  come  from 
the  genteel  walks  of  life  where  manual  labor  would 
be  looked  upon  as  a  hardship.  The  penalty  for  taking 
this  point  of  view  is  terrible  to  contemplate.  It  is 
chronic  insanity  with  no  reasonable  hope  of  emancipa 
tion  from  it. 


FOR  THE  HEALING  OP  HURT  MINDS.  14<) 

Results  of  the  Healing  Art— Dr.  Potter,  of  Rochester 
hospital,  lumped  the  healing  art  off  to  me  as  follows: 
As  a  matter  of  experience,  after  science  and  nursing 
have  done  their  best,  about  twenty-five  per  cent  of  those 
who  were  really  insane,  and  not  merely  suffering  from 
delirium,  will  become  perfectly  cured,  twenty-five  per 
cent  more  will  return  home  well  enough  to  remain  there 
under  surveillance,  twenty-five  per  cent  will  speedily  die 
of  their  malady,  and  the  remaining  twenty -five  per  cent 
will  sink  into  a  state  of  chronic  dementia  that  will  last  the 
ordinary  expectation  of  institutional  life,  which  is  be 
tween  twelve  and  fifteen  years. 

The  Licentious  Life— There  is  a  form  of  insanity  to 
which  men  are  chiefly  subject  that  should  constitute 
a  sounder  lesson  in  morals  than  it  does.  In  nearly  all 
institutions  for  the  insane  are  found  men  who  were 
once  men  of  affairs,  leaders  in  their  communities,  pro 
fessional  men,  civil  engineers,  officers  in  the  army,  big, 
hearty,  manly  men,  who  have  come  to  a  condition 
where,  if  seated  on  a  bench,  they  will  stay  there  a  week 
if  not  moved  elsewhere.  They  have  no  concern  for 
the  natural  operations  of  the  digestive  or  urinary 
mechanisms  of  their  bodies,  and  do  not  betray  half  as 
much  interest  in  the  things  which  appertain  to  life  as 
the  dullest  hog  that  lies  grunting  in  its  sty.  Majesty 
in  ruins!  The  result  of  the  licentious  life. 

Self -Control— There  are  many  persons  who  have 
their  sanity  or  insanity  within  their  own  keeping.  If 
they  give  way  to  every  whim  and  inconsequential 
emotion,  if  they  control  neither  their  appetites,  their 
passions  nor  their  tempers,  as  old  age  creeps  on  to  them 
it  will  find  them  with  eccentricities  ripened  into  an 
insanity  that  will  send  them  to  an  institution  to  spend 
their  declining  years.  Most  of  the  so-called  senile 
insanity  is  of  this  quality  and  might  have  been  pre 
vented  had  the  patients  sought  in  early  life  and  middle 
age  to  make  their  lives  sweet  instead  of  bitter— by 
striving  to  make  the  lives  of  others  around  them  sweet 
instead  of  bitter. 


150  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

The  Colony  System— Unless  a  hospital  finds  some 
means  for  disposing  of  its  chronic  cases  it  will  inevi 
tably  become  filled  with  old  chronics  for  whom  there  is 
no  hope.  I  visited  Kirkbride  hospital  in  Philadelphia 
where,  with  a  population  of  several  hundred  patients, 
there  were  not  fifty  possibly  curable  cases.  Massachu 
setts  has  wearied  of  building  great,  central  asylums 
and  is  now  carrying  the  farm  colony  idea  into  the 
department  of  insanity.  Massachusetts  farms  are  being 
bought  up,  moderate-priced  buildings  erected,  and  in 
sane  persons  are  being  placed  there  in  families  of  thirty 
or  fifty  under  the  care  of  trained  attendants  and  farm 
ers  who  will  get  as  much  work  out  of  them  as  possible 
and  make  the  cost  of  their  maintenance  as  low  as  pos 
sible.  Instead  of  costing  $700  or  $800  each  for  housing, 
it  is  probable  that  the  housing  can  be  done  for  $200 
to  $250  per  patient.  There  will  be  a  great  saving  to 
the  commonwealth  and,  so  far  as  the  experiment  has 
been  tried,  the  patients  have  been  more  free,  more 
quiet,  contented,  and  better  off  physically  than  in  the 
costly  hospitals  and  asylums. 

A  Suggestion  for  California — In  my  humble  judg 
ment  California  should  begin  to  establish  some  nice 
little  colonies  for  her  insane  instead  of  building  any 
more  asylums  or  greatly  enlarging  those  we  have.  A 
reasonable  sized  tract  of  land  cut  up  into  twenty-acre 
farms,  and  made  the  homes  of  perhaps  forty  or  fifty 
patients  each,  at  a  cost  of  $10,000  or  $12,000  for  build 
ings,  would  result  in  great  economy  to  the  common 
wealth  and  great  good  to  certain  classes  of  patients 
able  to  be  out  of  doors  and  to  work  with  chickens, 
cows  and  hogs  or  in  raising  fruits,  berries  and  vege 
tables.  These  colonies  should  not  be  away  off  some 
where,  but  within  easy  driving  distance  from  the 
present  parent  institutions  and  under  the  same  man 
agement.  There  are,  I  believe,  great  possibilities  for 
economy  and  humanity  in  the  Massachusetts  colony 
idea  as  adapted  to  California  climate  and  conditions. 


TO  SOCIAL  SERVICE  WORKERS.  151 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 
TO  SOCIAL  SERVICE  WORKERS. 

It  may  not  be  true,  and  probably  is  not,  that  the 
nearer  every  function  of  government  can  be  brought 
to  the  people  themselves  the  better  will  that  function 
be  performed.  The  representative  principle  has  found 
a  firm  place  in  our  political  economy,  and  for  the  best 
of  reasons,  but  there  can  be  no  question  that  repre 
sentative  government  will  not  get  on  well  without 
being  sustained,  and  kept  in  right  channels,  by  an  active 
and  enlightened  public  sentiment.  Neither  will  it  get 
on  well  without  the  cooperation  of  a  large  and  disinter 
ested  body  of  altruistic  social  workers  permeating  and 
agitating  the  social  mass  in  order  that  it  may  not  stag 
nate  and  lose  its  evolutionary  impulse.  The  great, 
human  mass  we  call  society  must  go  either  forward  or 
backward.  It  can  not  rest  on  its  arms  in  security. 
That  it  shall  be  kept  moving,  that  it  shall  be  kept  alive 
and  watchful  of  its  interests,  is  the  task  which  nature 
has  committed  to  the  charge  of  the  comparatively  few 
who  are  capable  of  seeing  beyond  their  own  immediate 
horizons  and  capable  of  untiring  and  disinterested 
effort  for  the  common  weal.  It  is  to  those  unselfish 
workers  in  social  service  whose  constant  effort  it  is  to 
make  all  things  better  than  they  are,  that  this  chapter 
is  particularly  addressed. 

The  Highway  to  Criminality— Of  the  tens  of  thou 
sands  who  fill  the  jails  and  prisons  of  this  country  it 
is  within  the  limit  of  probability  to  say  that  eighty-five 
per  cent  are  there,  not  through  any  prenatal  tendencies 
to  evil,  but  because  they  have  never  learned  to  do 
anything  that  the  world  wants  to  have  done  and  is 
willing  to  pay  for,  and  have  sought  to  make  their  living 
by  doing  things  that  the  world  does  not  want  to  have 
done  and  is  unwilling  to  pay  for,  though  it  generally 
has  to  roundly.  Those  who  have  failed  in  the  under- 


152  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

taking  land  in  jail.  Those  who  succeed  are  the  uncon- 
victed  felons  whose  names  sooner  or  later  become 
anathema  in  the  public  mouth. 

In  nine  cases  out  of  every  ten  the  first  step  taken  on 
this  highway  is  taken  by  the  truant.  He  loses  interest 
in  the  purely  academic  studies,  gets  behind,  becomes 
ashamed  to  be  in  classes  with  smaller  boys,  fancies  that 
he  must  go  to  work,  strikes  a  job  and  loses  it  because 
he  does  not  know  how  to  do  anything  useful,  falls  into 
loafing  about  livery  barns,  railroad  stations  and  where- 
ever  loafers  congregate,  gets  his  mind  poisoned  by  this 
contact,  wants  things  he  can  not  buy,  "swipes"  things 
that  will  sell,  goes  on  progressively  from  "swiping" 
to  till-tapping,  from  till-tapping  to  looting  vacant 
buildings  in  search  of  lead  pipe  and  other  portable 
properties,  climbs  into  kitchen  windows  and  loots 
houses  when  the  families  are  away,  burglarizes  stores, 
gets  frightened  and  "takes  to  the  road"  for  awhile, 
learns  all  the  degrading  habits  going  among  hoboes, 
and,  pushed  for  money  and  unfit  for  work,  he  turns 
footpad  and,  at  seventeen  or  eighteen  years,  is  haled 
before  a  court  for  murder,  or  highway  robbery.  Or, 
perhaps,  he  is  arrested  only  for  burglary,  porch-climb 
ing,  or  breaking-and-entering.  Ten  thousand  just  such 
stories  as  this  have  been  told  in  the  courts  and  prisons 
of  our  country,  with  only  such  variations  as  a  step 
father  or  stepmother  might  afford.  The  initial  point 
of  weakness  in  a  good  boy  gone  wrong  was  loss  of 
interest  in  school  life  because  it  no  longer  appealed  to 
the  surging  impulses  that  were  rising  within  the  lad 
just  entering  upon  the  voice-changing  period. 

Appalling  Figures — The  most  significant  statement 
of  fact  made  at  the  State  Teachers'  Association  during 
its  recent  session  at  Berkeley  was  that  made  by  Gov 
ernor  George  C.  Pardee  that  of  85,000  boys  who  started 
to  school  for  their  first  day  in  the  fall  of  1897  only 
4500  remained  in  school  long  enough  to  graduate  from 
the  grammar  grade.  It  signifies  nothing  that  other 


TO  .SOCIAL  SERVICE  WORKERS.  153 

states  have  similar  records.  The  more  such  records 
the  more  appalling  the  fact.  What  fitness  has  any 
present-day  American  boy  for  performing  the  duties 
of  life  if  he  have  not  so  much  as  a  grammar  school 
education?  The  above  figures  need  to  be  reversed. 
As  many  as  80,500  should  have  graduated  from  the 
grammar  grade  last  June  and  no  more  than  4500 
should  have  failed.  Scarcely  one  boy  in  a  hundred  goes 
from  a  school  where  he  has  been  a  regular  attendant 
to  a  reform  school. 

Children  Must  be  Kept  in  School — In  very  self-de 
fense  children  must  be  kept  in  school,  at  least  until 
they  have  completed  the  grammar  course.  There  will 
be  no  diminution  of  criminality  until  this  is  accom 
plished.  This  is  to  be  accomplished  in  two  ways : 
First,  by  having  a  compulsory  education  law  that  means 
it,  and,  second,  by  putting  things  into  the  school  courses 
that  respond  to  the  demands  of  adolescent  boy  and 
girl  nature.  A  compulsory  education  law  that  means 
it  is  one  that  provides  adequate  machinery  for  enforc 
ing  it,  as  the  California  law  does  not.  There  are  those 
who  may  act  in  the  matter,  but  none  who  must  act. 

Education  is  a  state  and  not  a  local  problem,  and  the 
state  educational  department  should  have  the  power 
and  machinery  for  enforcing  attendance.  Connecticut 
has  such  a  law,  and  its  enforcement  is  almost  complete. 
The  state  is  divided  into  educational  inspection  dis 
tricts  with  inspectors  permanently  in  the  field.  This 
inspector  visits  each  school  district  at  least  once  a 
year  without  previous  announcement.  He  takes  with 
him  a  certified  copy  of  the  last  school  census  roll 
and  checks  off  all  children  who  answer  the  roll  call. 
Those  not  there  must  be  accounted  for  satisfactorily 
by  the  district  officers  or  that  district  does  not  draw 
any  state  school  money  on  the  absent  children.  If 
parents  are  at  fault  they  are  proceeded  against.  It  is 
recognized  as  fundamental  that  Almighty  God  did  not 
endow  children  under  fourteen  with  wisdom  sufficient 


154  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE.    - 

for  the  proper  ordering  of  their  own  steps.  Therefore, 
parental  duty  is  enforced  if  it  can  be  and,  if  it  can 
not  be  enforced,  then  Connecticut  assumes  ultimate 
guardianship  for  the  child  of  school  age  and  sends  it 
to  a  state  school.  California  could  easily  provide  a 
similar  system.  There  is  small  justification  for  paying 
out  state  money  for  the  education  of  children  who  do 
not  go  to  school. 

Manual  and  Agricultural  Training— There  may  be 
som-e  measure  of  truth  in  the  assertion  that  a  child  may 
be  by  law  compelled  to  go  to  school  but  can  not  be 
compelled  to  learn  anything  while  in  school.  Any 
child  not  insane  or  imbecile  can  be  induced  to  learn 
through  an  arousing  of  the  natural  instincts  of  child 
hood  common  to  the  age  of  the  child.  Manual  training, 
school  gardens  and  nature  study,  wherever  intelligently 
attempted,  have  been  found  to  appeal  to  the  natural 
demands  of  adolescent  childhood.  It  is  almost  uni 
versally  true  that  one  lesson  in  manual  training  of  one 
hour  and  a  half  or  two  hours  per  week  will  suffice  to 
hold  any  boy  in  school,  and  a  similar  lesson  in  sewing 
or  cooking  will  hold  a  girl  to  her  cultural  studies.  If 
not  one  lesson,  then  two  lessons.  Adolescence  demands 
action,  not  meditation.  Thinking— close,  accurate 
thinking — is  the  hardest  work  that  men  or  women  are 
called  upon  to  do.  It  will  make  the  sweat  starl  quicker 
than  anything  else,  yet  our  school  system  expects  that 
adolescent  youth,  with  all  of  its  restlessness,  will  "do 
that  kind  of  work  six  hours  a  day.  Not  one  adult  in  a 
hundred  does  it  one  hour  a  day,  and  many  do  not  think 
hard  one  hour  in  six  days.  It  does  not  so  much  matter 
what  is  taught  as  that  something  is,  and  that  the  boy 
and  girl  are  held  in  school  until  they  develop  some 
glimmerings  of  common  sense.  If  those  who  drop  out 
are  largely  children  of  foreign-born  parents,  eager  for 
their  scanty  earnings,  all  the  greater  is  the  need  for 
keeping  them  in  school.  The  school  is  the  great  Ameri 
can  assimilator  of  incongruous  peoples.  It  is  where 


TO  SOCIAL  SERVICE  WORKERS.  155 

the  child  of  another  country  is  Americanized  if  at  all, 
and  if  not  Americanized  at  all  he  becomes  an  enemy 
to  American  ideas  and  institutions.  What  an  oppor 
tunity  is  here  afforded  for  social  service  workers ! 

The  Jails — It  is  the  deliberate  opinion  of  men  who 
are  brought  in  touch  with  criminal  life  throughout  the 
east,  so  far  as  I  was  able  to  meet  them,  that  the  county 
jails  create  more  crime  than  all  the  reformatories  and 
prisons  can  correct.  Huddled  together  as  the  inmates 
of  these  jails  are  there  goes  on  a  malevolent  assimilation 
that  turns  all  the  inmates  out  schooled  in  bestiality 
and  low  cunning  if  not  actual  devotees  of  crime.  The 
r.eed  seems  to  be  to  assemble  the  prisoners  in  district  in 
stead  of  county  jails  so  that  there  will  be  enough  of 
prisoners  to  permit  their  being  segregated  into  classes 
and  set  to  profitable  work. 

New  York  has  three  classes  of  such  institutions — 
county  jails,  penitentiaries  and  state  prisons.  The 
penitentiaries  are  generally  furnished  by  certain  coun 
ties  and  they  receive  prisoners,  misdemeanants  mainly, 
from  other  counties  in  that  district  at  a  stipend  fixed 
by  law.  These  prisoners  were  formerly  contracted  to 
work  in  productive  industry,  but  are  now  doing  work 
under  the  same  laws  as  regulate  labor  in  state  prisons, 
and  the  expectation  is  that  the  state  will  finally  assume 
control  of  all  jails  and  penitentiaries,  using  the  jails 
only  for  retaining  prisoners  to  answer  for  trial,  the 
penitentiaries  for  misdemeanants,  the  prisons  for  felons. 
If  California  had  such  a  system,  with  half  a  dozen 
penitentiaries,  a  reformatory  and  a  prison,  some  bene 
ficial  use  could  be  made  of  hobo  labor.  What  individual 
counties  can  not  afford  to  undertake  a  group  of  counties 
in  a  district  may  be  able  to  do  with  profit.  Another 
theme  for  social  service  workers  to  ruminate  upon ! 

Education  in  Restraint  of  Matrimony— There  is  a 
deal  of  inconsequential  talk  of  the  a-sexualization  of 
the  unfit,  a  thing  that  will  never  come  to  pass  to  any 
appreciable  extent;  but  moral  suasion,  backed  by  an 


156  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

educated  public  sentiment,  can  do  much  toward  re 
straining  matrimonial  alliances  where  attainder  of  in 
sanity  or  other  ailment  unmistakably  runs  with  the 
blood.  I  think  that  it  was  Dr.  Graham  Bell  who  was 
responsible  for  the  s^tement  that  fully  half  of  all  the 
deaf  mutes  born  in  this  ^country  were  descendants  of 
four  unfortunate  families — two  from  the  Cape  Cod 
district,  and  one  each  from  New  Jersey  and  Maryland. 
In  some  of  the  institutions  for  the  blind  and  the  deaf  a 
quiet  but  effective  influence  is  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  students  to  dissuade  them  from  matrimony  through 
fear  of  evil  consequences  to  their  progeny.  Epileptics 
are  similarly  worked  upon  with  good  results,  and, 
throughout  the  country,  there  are  hundreds  who  remain 
single  because  of  the  presence  in  the  family  history  of 
the  taint  of  insanity.  Public  sentiment  can  help  here, 
too. 

The  Power  of  Suggestion— Hypnotism  is  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  a  manifestation  of  the  influence 
upon  the  mind  of  the  power  of  repeated  suggestion. 
It  is  perfectly  clear  to  sociologists  that  the  increase  of 
criminality,  the  world  over,  and  especially  in  this 
country,  is  largely  due  to  the  power  of  suggestion  of 
the  yellow  press.  Sensational  papers  are  mainly  taken 
by  persons  most  likely  to  be  influenced  by  the  power 
of  suggestion,  and  the  reading  of  graphic  reports  of 
murders,  suicides,  robberies,  domestic  scandals,  etc., 
day  after  day,  year  after  year,  can  not  fail  of  producing 
untoward  results  in  minds  of  that  character.  It  has 
been  observed  that  atrocities  of  every  kind,  blazoned 
in  the  columns  of  such  papers,  are  imitated  shortly 
after,  incident  by  incident.  Time  was  when  the  dime 
novel  was  charged  with  many  heinous  offenses  against 
social  well-being,  but  how  much  greater  the  evil  now 
that  daily  novels  of  as  worthless  character  are  hawked 
about  streets  at  one  cent  per  copy !  The  yellow  papers 
not  only  use  a  deal  of  fiction  in  their  daily  grist,  but 
they  tell  whatever  truth  they  do  tell  in  the  language 


TO  SOCIAL  SERVICE  WORKERS.  157 

of  fiction  so  that  it  tastes  like  fiction  in  the  mouths  of 
their  readers  and  has  the  same  influence  upon  their 
overwrought  nervous  systems.  Here  is  another  point 
for  social  service  workers  to  make  their  influence  count 
in  making  things  better  than  they  are. 

The  Bane  of  Political  Patronage — There  can  be  no 
free  government  without  politics  and  there  can  be  no 
politics  without  official  patronage,  but  there  can  be 
free  government  without  dirty  politics  and  there  can 
be  political  patronage  without  its  prostitution  to 
ignoble  and  personal  ends.  It  is  right  and  profitable 
in  government  to  first  fix  responsibility  for  efficient 
government  and  then  give  political  power  commen 
surate  with  that  responsibility,  but  the  prostitution  of 
this  power  to  mere  personal  ends  should  bring  upon 
the  heads  of  officers  guilty  of  it  the  contempt  of  all 
right-thinking  persons,  and  in  no  other  way  can  that 
abuse  be  prevented. 

The  institutional  life  of  California  has,  throughout  the 
greater  part  of  the  history  of  the  state,  been  blighted 
by  this  bane  of  low  politics.  Our  reform  schools  have 
been  crippled  again  and  again,  our  prisons  have  ex 
perienced  its  damning  influence,  and  our  state  hospitals 
for  the  insane  and  Home  for  the  Feeble-Minded  have 
not  been  wholly  and  at  all  times  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  same  paralyzing  influence. 

Throughout  the  east  this  source  of  disaster  to  the 
institutional  life  of  the  commonwealth  has  been  reduced 
to  a  minimum,  if  not  obliterated  altogether.  There  is 
still  plenty  of  partisan  politics  to  the  square  inch,  but 
public  sentiment  has  said  to  it:  "Hands  off  the  public 
institutions,  or  out  you  go,"  and  no  politician  dares 
lay  hand  on  an  institution  for  his  own  personal,  politi 
cal  advantage.  I  saw  many  men  in  positions  of  great 
responsibility  who  had  been  there  from  twenty  to  thirty 
years.  Political  parties  had  come  into  power  and  gone 
out  of  it,  but  these  worthy  masters  of  their  institutional 
duties  remained  undisturbed  through  all  the  vicissi 
tudes  of  partisan  history. 


158  INSTITUTIONAL    LIFE. 

Without  continuity  in  institutional  office  on  the  part 
of  those  who  have  once  proven  their  fitness  there  can 
be  no  good  thing  permanently  accomplished.  Politics 
in  the  institutional  life  of  a  state  is  as  bad  as  politics 
in  the  public  schools,  than  which  nothing  can  be  worse. 
It  is  for  social  service  workers  in  this  commonwealth 
to  so  educate  public  opinion  and  the  public  conscience 
that  no  politician  will  dare  to  lay  selfish  hands  upon 
any  state  institution,  or  for  any  reason  other  than  for 
the  absolute  and  unqualified  good  of  such  institution. 
Our  public  conscience  in  this  particular  is  lax.  It 
should  be  strengthened. 

The  State  Board  of  Charities  and  Corrections— I  can 

not  more  fittingly  close  this  pamphlet  than  by  making 
a  short  and  very  direct  appeal  for  public  support  for 
California's  State  Board  of  Charities  and  Corrections. 
It  has  not  quite  found  its  place  yet  in  the  public  mind 
and  in  state  policy.  This  is  partially  its  own  fault 
because  of  its  unwarranted  timidity  in  making  its 
work  known  to  the  public,  and  partially  the  fault  of 
professional  politicians  who  regard  charity  workers  as 
bothersome  meddlers. 

Wherever  I  went  among  eastern  states  I  found  the 
State  Board  of  Charities  and  Corrections  doing  a  valued 
work  and  holding  a  high  place  in  the  estimation  of 
public  men  and  officials.  They  are  outside  of  the  main 
currents  of  political  action  and,  in  a  measure,  stand 
between  the  public  and  official  conduct.  They  report 
to  the  public  what  is  being  done  and  what  needs  to  be 
done.  They  gather  the  best  obtainable  information 
touching  public  affairs  and  give  it  a  publicity  that  is 
nothing  short  of  illuminating.  They  champion  the 
cause  of  delinquent  and  dependent  childhood.  They 
influence  the  conduct  of  all  public  institutions  helpfully 
and  for  their  greater  efficiency.  They  correct  misin 
formation,  investigate  wrongdoing  and  advise  the  pub 
lic  where  the  blame  lies.  They  are  made  up  of  persons 
with  no  axes  to  grind ;  their  terms  of  office  are  long  and 


TO  SOCIAL  SERVICE  WORKERS.  159 

lap  over  administration  after  administration.  They 
serve  without  pay,  save  as  to  actual  expenses,  and  the 
salaries  of  expert  workers  employed  to  carry  out  their 
policies  and  to  perform  services  exacted  by  them. 
They  are  made  up  of  persons  of  the  highest  character, 
willing  to  give  of  their  time  and  thought  to  social  serv 
ice  without  pecuniary  or  other  reward  save  that  they 
have  the  consciousness  of  being  helpful  in  making 
things  better  than  they  are. 

Such  a  body  of  men  California  has  in  its  State  Board 
of  Charities  and  Corrections,  and  social  service  workers 
can  do  nothing  more  to  the  purpose  than  to  acquaint 
themselves  with  this  Board,  its  members  and  officers, 
and  lend  them  a  cordial  support  in  whatever  they  may 
undertake  to  do.  Likewise,  to  defend  and  protect  the 
Board  when  the  powers  of  political  darkness  would 
prevail  against  them. 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 

Abandoned    child,    the 62 

Accessory  to  the   fact 20 

Accomplices  before  the  fact 21 

Accomplishments    23 

Adolescence    15 

Adoption 96 

Agricultural  education  not  contemplated 28 

Altruism,  highest,  rare 9 

Amigh,   Mrs.   Ophelia 46 

Assimilation,  benevolent  and  malevolent 78 

Baldwinsville  hospital  for  epileptics 117 

Black-sheep  problem,  the ^ 15 

Blind,  competition  with  seeing 124 

interesting  figures  regarding 125 

language    easy    for 123 

leading    the 122 

manual    training   for 124 

rational  goal  to  be  sought 126 

sense    judgments    difficult 123 

Boarding-out    system,    the 

Boston    system 94 

in    Massachusetts .--29,  93 

in     Pennsylvania 95 

Bound  for  the  west,  Dobb's  Ferry 54 

Broken    homes ---     19 

Buckeyes,    little    lone 

California    idea,    the 67 

California,  what  it  should  do 90,  121,  144,  150 

Catholic  Home  Bureau  of  New  York , 85 

Catholic  Protectory  at  \Vestchester 56 

Catholic   Technical   School 100 

Charities  and  Corrections.  State  Board  of 91,  158 

Child,  state  ultimate  guardian  of 

Child  problem,  odds  and  ends  of 

Children,   cost  to  orphanages 66 

cost    to    state 67 

help  employed  to  care  for 

home-finding    for 

must  be  kept  at  school -  153 

number   cared   for 65 

remediable  deficiencies  of 73 

unattractive,   taking   care   of 77 

untrained    straightened    up 77 

Children's   aid    societies _ '- 89 

Children's   Guardians  of  New  Jersey... 

Cleveland  Protestant  Orphanage 81 


162  INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Colony   system    for   insane 150 

a    suggestion    for    California 150 

Compulsory  education   in   Connecticut  and   California 153 

Concord    Reformatory 133 

Connecticut,   how  it  pays   for  girls 50 

Connecticut  Industrial   School  for  Girls 49 

classification 50 

distinctive    feature    at 50 

education    51 

Contract  labor  more  frightful  than  hurtful 140 

Cooking  school,  Michigan  Home  for  Girls 44 

Corporal    punishment   abolished 26 

Cost  of  maintenance   in   institutions 7 

Cottage  plan,  as  to  orphanages 78,  79 

at  Dobb's  Ferry 53 

at  Glen   Mills 33 

at   Geneva,    Illinois 47 

comparative    cost    of 79 

Cottages,   cost  of,   at  Dobb's   P^erry 53 

Craig  Colony  at  Sonyea,  New  York 116 

Credit   system   at    Elmira 132 

Criminals,    classes   of 137 

Criminality,  the  highway  to 151 

Cripples,   physical  and  moral 12 

"Daddy"    36 

Deaf  and  blind,  school  for :.__  120 

Deaf,    the 118 

fife  and  drum  corps  of 121 

language    difficult    for 119 

made    self-sustaining 122 

manual    alphabet    for 119 

oral  method  of  conversing 119 

s'gn   language  of 118 

what  California  should  do 121 

what  science  has  done  for :.  122 

Dependency,    indeterminate 61 

judicially    determined 63 

Dependent    child,    the__ 60 

what    is 61 

what  California  is  doing  for 65 

Delirium,    not    insanity -  147 

Desertion    of   family . . 98 

Discipline  at  Concord  Reformatory 134 

at  Glen   Mills 35 

at   Illinois    School   for   Girls__. 

in    Lyman    School 30 

Disobedient    and    untrained 

"Oobb's   Ferry,    children    committed   to 55 

Domestic  art  and  science  at  Westchester 

Drunkards  committed  to  Concord  Reformatory _--135 

Economies,  where  possible 

Elmira     Reformatory 

credit    system    at 

discipline    at 

how  reformation   is  accomplished 131 


INDEX.  163 

PAGE. 

Elmira  Reformatory,   industrial  training  at 131 

material   to   work  on 130 

story    in    figures 130 

the    school 131 

Epilepsy    114 

hereditary    tendency 115 

operations    futile 118 

science  at  work  upon 115 

self-control    best 117 

Epileptic    colony    idea 115 

Fallacies,  a  few  dispelled 70 

Farm,   looking  for  a 60 

Feeble-minded,    the _   101 

at    Elwyn,    Pennsylvania 105 

at    Fort    Wayne,    Indiana _• 104 

causes    of 102 

institutions    visited 104 

New  Jersey  Training.  School  for 106 

not  all   born  so 104 

results    of    training 110 

rewards   but   no   punishments 107 

situation    in    California - 102 

store    for 108 

what  can  be  done  for  them 103 

Feeble-minded    women 112 

in    other   states 113 

New  Jersey  Home  for 113 

plain    needs    of 114 

Fernald,   Dr.   Walter   E 109 

Foundlings    69 

law  regarding,   at  fault 71 

mortality    among 70 

Fourteen,    after,    what 99 

Free  hand,  lack  of 10 

Gardening    at    Adrian . 45 

George  Junior  Republic...- 36 

for   boys   and   girls 37 

government     at 39 

the  saving  grace  of  property 39 

the   system 38. 

Girls'  department  at  Rochester  Reform  School  closed 27 

Glen  Mills  House  "of  Refuge 32 

spirit   of 34 

Going  to  the  country 27 

Half   orphan,    the 61 

Harper     Lodge 112 

Hartford  Retreat 147 

Help   employed 66 

Holding  in  leash 23 

Home  finding,   authorized ' 91 

for    children 83 

Home  tie,   the 31 

Homes  for  aged,   injustice  of 127 

Horizon,    circumscribed 9 

How  bad  girls  are  made  good , 22 


164  INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Human  animal,  the 16 

Human  limitations 9 

Hurt  minds,  healing  of 144 

Illinois  Training-  School  for  Girls 46 

In  the  light  of  fifty  years 25 

Indenture  97 

Indeterminate  sentence,  the 136 

Industrial  education  at  Concord  Reformatory 133 

Industrial  life,  Connecticut  School  for  Girls 51 

Industrial  training,  at  Elmira 131 

at  Westchester 58 

Industries  at  Geneva,  Illinois 48 

Infirmity,  the  handicap  of 73 

Injustice,  the  victims  of 11 

Insane,  colony  system  for 150 

hope    for   the    acute 146 

labor  of  patients  in  hospitals  for 148 

Insanity,  causes  of 145 

kinds  of 146 

results  of  the  healing  art 149 

Institutionalism,  a  little  of  it  good 78 

in  orphanages 77 

Iowa's  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Orphans'  Home 79 

Italian  women 72 

Jails,  district  system 155 

the  bad  work  of 155 

Johnstone,  Edward  R -_-  107 

Juvenile  court  system,  extend  the 63 

Law  liberally  construed 63 

Legislating  in  the  light  of  experience 42 

Lewdness,  causes  of 21 

Liberty,  large,  allowed 41 

Licentious  life,  the 149 

Love  of  a  good  woman _ 22 

Lyman  School  for  Boys 29 

Machinery,  up-to-date,  in  prisons 141 

Man,  at  head  of  girls'  school 52 

Manual  alphabet,  the 119 

Manual  and  agricultural  training 154 

Manual -training  era 25 

Manufacturing  on  state  account,  the  Illinois  scheme 142 

apprentice  labor J 143 

Maternal  instinct,  the 21 

Matrimony  and  motherhood 24 

Matrimony,  education  and  restraint  of 155 

McLean  Hospital 147 

Michigan  Industrial  Home  for  Girls 43 

Michigan  State  School 80 

Military  discipline 26 

Mill  system,  the '. 55 

Mother's  milk 72 

Motherhood  24 

Music  at  Catholic  Protectory 58 


INDEX.  165 

PAGE. 

Music  at  Michigan  Home  for  Girls 45 

Net  results  at  Dobb's  Ferry 56 

New   York  Juvenile   Asylum. 53 

future     of 56 

No  money  of  boy's   own 14 

Occupation,     unceasing 23 

Office,   continuity   in 158 

Orphanage,  average  time   in 76 

highest    use    of 76 

proper    function    of 76 

Orphanages,   cost   to   the 66 

health   in 100 

some  that  were  visited 79 

some   things  about 75 

Other  classes  of  wards  of  the  state 13 

Palmer   Colony 117 

Parental    responsibility 18 

Parole  and  discharge,  at  Glen  Mills 35 

Parole  system  at  Lyman  School 32 

Paroled  and  placed  out,  how,  at  Westchester 59 

Patient  labor  in  hospitals  for  insane 148 

Perfected  cottage  plan,  Dobb's  Ferry 53 

Personnel  of  Michigan  Home  for  Girls 44 

Pessimism,  no  occasion  for 8 

Placing  out,  a  state  responsibility 83 

at   good   will 97 

Catholic    Home    Bureau 85 

Cleveland   Protestant   Orphanage 81 

in    general 86 

New   York  Juvenile   Asylum   system 85 

the  Michigan  system 84 

the   New  York  way 84 

why   children   are   applied   for 87 

why  children  should  be  applied  for 88 

Plant  of  the  Illinois  Training  School  for  Girls 47 

of  the  Michigan  Home  for  Girls 43 

Play,    utility    of 48 

Playgrounds,    plenty   of,    at   Westchester 57 

Political    patronage,    misuse   of 157 

Politics,  children  to  be  placed  outside  of 158 

Preventives   or   palliatives 8 

Prison    farm   at    Concord    Reformatory 134 

Prison  labor 139 

apprentice,    mainly 143 

competition  with  free 139 

contract    system 140 

the   Illinois   scheme 142 

Prison  problem  in  California 144 

Prison  system  vs.  personality 137 

Prisoner,    the   earnings   by 143 

Prisons    and    prisoners 135 

Probation    for    boys 18 

Problem,    the 7 

Prostitute,    the    natural-born 22 


166  INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Public  schools,  how  to  keep  children  in 153 

Raw  human  material,  the 38 

Real  reformation  rare 19 

Redemptive  element,  the 28 

Reformatory  influences  at  Concord 135 

Reformatory,  the 128 

Remedies  for  infirmities 74 

Replacing,  Catholic  Home  Bureau 86 

in  general 86 

Results  at  Connecticut  School  for  Girls 51 

Rewards  but  no  punishments 107 

Roadhouse,  the 21 

Rochester  Reform  School 25 

Saving  graces,  of  Michigan  Home  for  Girls 44 

School  attendance,  appalling  figures  regarding 152 

School  work  at  Geneva,  Illinois  47 

Self-control,  as  preventive  of  insanity 149 

value  of,  in  epilepsy 117 

Self-realization  for  boys 17 

Sewing  school,  Michigan  Home  for  Girls 45 

Sifted  out  well 29 

Sifting-out  process,  the 128 

Silly  age,  the 20 

Sloyd,  American,  at  Westchester 58 

Sloyd  and  garden 30 

Social  service  workers,  an  appeal  to 151 

Spirit  strong,  flesh  weak 10 

St.  Philip's  Home 59 

State  Board  of  Charities  and  Corrections  in  California__91,  158 

State  Board  of  Examiners 90,92 

State  hospital,  a 75 

State-made  goods  at  wholesale  prices 141 

Stubbornness  20 

Success  achieved,  how 43 

Success  with  children,  reward  of •_ 100 

Suggestion,  the  power  of 156 

Superannuated,  the 12 

Support,  compulsory 98 

System,  little  of,  at  Geneva 49 

Templeton,  colony  at 111 

Tendency  to  rut 10 

Their  stay  short 28 

Thought-inspiring  institution,  a 41 

Trades  and  agriculture,  at  Glen  Mills 33 

Transplanting  16 

Unattractive  children,  taking  care  of 77 

Up-to-date  machinery  in  prisons 141 

Wages  of  sin,  earners  of 11 

Ward's  Island  hospital 146 

Wards  of  the  state,  who  are 11 

Waverly  and  Templeton 108 


INDEX.  167 

PAGE. 

Waverly,  educational  work  at -  109 

.    elemental  educational  work 110 

institution   at 108 

kindergarten    at -  109 

Westchester,   school   at , 57 

What  makes  bad  boys  good 16 

What  makes  good  boys  bad 

What   makes   good   girls   bad 19 

Widow,  California's  policy  toward 68 

Work  and  instruction  at  Concord  Reformatory 133 

Wrong  start,  a 14 

Zoo,    well-equipped,    for   feeble-minded 107 


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